Cantor Rhoda J. Harrison, PhD
Senior Cantor
Cantor Rhoda Harrison served the Reform community in Baltimore, Maryland, for the first 25 years of her career serving as Cantor of the historic Har Sinai Congregation and later as Rabbi/Cantor of Temple Emanuel of Baltimore. A native of Philadelphia, she returned to the area in 2018 to serve as Cantor of Congregation M’kor Shalom of Cherry Hill and is now so looking forward to serving South Jersey’s newest Reform congregation, Kol Ami as its Senior Cantor.
Cantor Harrison was ordained as Cantor in 1993 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion after studying at both the Jerusalem and New York campuses and received Rabbinic Ordination in 2008 while pursuing her PhD in Jewish Studies from the former Baltimore Hebrew University. Her academic areas of interest are liturgy, the history of the siddur, biblical Hebrew, and cantillation. Her dissertation traced the evolution of a Yom Kippur rubric of prayer from its origins in the Mishnah to the modern period. In 2018, Cantor Harrison received an honorary Doctorate in Music from the Hebrew Union College marking her 25-year milestone in the cantorate.
A classically trained lyric-coloratura soprano, Cantor Harrison enjoys performing operatic, art song, theatre, and oratorio literature in addition to cantorial repertoire. Whether in the synagogue or on the concert stage, she couples her rich and emotive lyrical expression with her expansive range to express text and uplift audiences. She also enjoys teaching about the coupling of text and music immensely. In Baltimore, prior to the COVID pandemic, she and her synagogue accompanist performed a range of music regularly at Germano’s Piattini in Little Italy.
In addition to her congregation work, Cantor Harrison has served as a chaplain at Jefferson University and Lenox Hill Hospitals. In her spare time, Cantor Harrison enjoys almost any fitness activity but especially biking, swimming, and running; she enjoys baking and experimenting with gluten free and vegan recipes, and most of all, she loves spending time with her family.
