Cantor Joyce Gerber is our wonderful B'nai Mitzvah tutor. Her warmth, patience and skill in teaching and encouraging her Bar and Bat Mitzvah students have helped them immeasurably.

Cantor Gerber holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and a Master’s Degree in Sacred Music from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion School of Sacred Music in New York City. In between these two degrees, she studied at the Juilliard School of Music as a vocal major and was awarded a Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant for vocal study.

She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Studio, the New York City Opera educational division, and Western Opera, the educational and touring branch of San Francisco Opera. She was a member of the New York City Opera Chorus and then graduated to performing roles with that company, including Handel’s Julius Caesar with Beverly Sills. She has performed with the Dallas Civic Opera, The Washington D.C. Opera Society, Lake George Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and the Carremoor Music Festival. She performed the role of The Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul for a television film produced for the United States Information Agency and she was a member of The Abbey Singers, an a capella vocal quintet specializing in early music.

But her most enduring and ultimately most meaningful affiliation has been with the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. She was the alto soloist in the professional choir at SWFS under the direction of A.W. Binder. After his death, she remained the alto soloist under the direction of Illana Rubenfeld and then Alan Sever. She was still on board when SWFS hired their first cantor, Cantor Ellen Stettner. While studying for the cantorate at HUC, she had student pulpits at Temple Adas Israel of Sag Harbor and Sinai Reform Temple in Bay Shore, NY. As an invested cantor, she served at Temple Shalom in Succasunna, NJ. Cantor Gerber is currently the B’nai Mitzvah tutor at SWFS where she has served in this capacity for many years.