At Shabbat services this Friday evening, June 17, Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation will officially install Cantor Alexandra S. Fox. She is the first chazzan at HSOSC since the merging of the historic Reform temples in September of 2019.
Last July, Cantor Fox came to the Pikesville congregation with Rabbi Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, who was officially installed as the inaugural spiritual leader of HSOSC in May.
“It has been such an honor to serve this special community alongside Rabbi Sabath,” said Cantor Fox. “This Shabbat, she and I will be joined on the bimah by a stellar team of musicians and cantors who will fill our sanctuary with harmony and holy sounds, helping us to usher in Shabbat as we honor our sacred partnership. This past year has been one of great learning and growth, and I am so excited to celebrate with our community as we look forward to the years that will come.”
A native of Huntington Woods, Michigan, Cantor Fox, 31, is a keyboardist, guitarist and composer. In 2013, she earned a bachelor of science degree in music history from Hofstra University in New York. She served as a chaplain intern at Northwest Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2016, earning the Compassionate Cantor Prize from the Reform Cantors of Chicago.
Cantor Fox received her ordination in May of 2018 from the Debbie Friedman School of Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She also earned a master of sacred music degree from that institution.
After graduating at the top of her class, she served for two years as the cantor at Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, California, where she created a pop-up adult choir and a children’s choir.
The weekend celebrating Cantor Fox’s installation will included a Shabbat service this Friday starting at 6 p.m.; a congregational Mexican buffet dinner at 7:45; a special Shabbat morning service at 10 on Saturday, June 18, featuring the HSOSC Band and visiting cantors; and a musical Havdalah service that night at 7 with Cantor Fox and the visiting cantors, followed by a dessert reception.
For information, visit hsosc-baltimore.org/form/Cantorial-installation-weekend-registration.html.
