North Suburban Synagogue Beth El Hosts Five Jewish Collegiate A Capella Groups in Concert!
On January 23, 2016, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL, will welcome over seventy college students, representing five campuses around the country in "Perfect Pitch: America's Greatest Jewish Collegiate A Capella Groups!"
Groups participating are Tizmoret (Queens College, New York); The Shabbatones (UPenn, Philadelphia); ShireiNU (Northwestern University, Chicago); HooSHIR (Indiana University, Bloomington); and Jewop! (UWisconsin, Madison).
With all the talk of anti-Israel rhetoric on campuses, discussions that Jewish students are having a hard time, it is important for communities around the country to celebrate the great successes of Jewish groups and Jewish students, and this concert will certainly reflect that!
The following article was published in Chicago's JUF News on December 21, 2015
Jewish a cappella on campus
By JENNIFER BRODY
Tizmoret’s soloist Thalia Sharon and other group members performs recently during the IHear Voices Concert. From left: Tali Rainess, Amanda Cinnamon, Leora Graber, Maddy Rosenbaum and Tamara Heller.
In the American musical comedy Pitch Perfect , world domination, singing talent, rivalries, friendships, and even a much needed vacation from boyfriends bring the Barden Bellas and other a cappella groups together.
In the real world of Jewish collegiate a cappella groups, singers blend their love of music with Jewish culture and identity. There are newbies and veterans, homebodies who perform closer to campus, and adventurous groups who tour all over.
So what's the "it" factor that makes Jewish a cappella groups, well, Jewish? Is it breaking out in song on Shabbat? Is it knowing Hebrew?
For Shabbatones President Aaron Zell, Jewish a cappella is all about sharing music with diverse audiences and honoring traditions. Earlier this year, the Shabbatones performed at the Wells Fargo Center for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. Last year, the group celebrated its bar mitzvah year with its "13" CD. That release includes "Achshav,"-which means "right now" in Hebrew)-its biggest hit of the last two years.
The group has shared its alumni song "Umacha" with President Obama and the First Lady and audiences stretching from California to South Florida. "Every time we have a concert and there are alumni in the audience, we invite them on stage to sing it with us," said Zell. "These moments of friendship are really powerful."
The group of 16 is excited about traveling to the Midwest in January to be part of an a cappella concert at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (NSS Beth El) in Highland Park, where Zell grew up. "I get to share my Shabbatones family with my family in Highland Park," said Zell, grandson of philanthropist Sam Zell and a Chicagoland Jewish High School graduate.
NSS Beth El's Hazzan Ben Tisser said song has been a huge part of Jewish identity for the last few centuries. When Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt, they broke out in song as soon as they crossed the Red Sea.
The synagogue's January Shabbat of Song weekend includes celebrating with Hebrew, Israeli, and American top 40 songs. The popularity of Glee and Pitch Perfect inspired the Highland Park synagogue to organize its first Jewish a cappella concert, which will feature some of the best Jewish collegiate a cappella groups from five campuses.
"We will bring over 70 college kids together in one building to showcase their art and show our kids that there's another way you can be Jewishly involved on campus."
While Tisser said he was familiar with a few groups, he researched others and decided to book Jewop after discovering their "great sound and fantastic energy" in a YouTube video.
The repertoire of Jewop includes Hebrew songs and arrangements with jazz and Afro-Cuban music. "We like to push the envelope of what a Jewish a cappella group can be," said Matt Allen, Jewop's co-music director. "One mash-up is an arrangement of "Salaam Rav" and "Ohev Shalom." It has a funky reggae tone, and people love it."
Allen, who grew up in a small town Wisconsin, joined Jewop as a junior. His girlfriend Nicole, who is Catholic, enlisted his help to master Hebrew pronunciation for some songs, and he had already seen her perform in the group's shows.
"Because there wasn't a huge Jewish community in the town where I grew up, I didn't become interested until I approached it through music," he recalled. (By the way, his mom is thrilled about this development).
Tizmoret at Queens College had a reputation for being the Orthodox-Jewish a cappella group, but its members include Reform Jews and secular Jews, and two non-Jews who are converting.
Members also share a competitive spirit, and it shows. All three times the group traveled to Washington, DC to compete in Kol Ha'Olam's National Jewish a cappella contest-2011, 2012, and 2015- it won first place. Not an easy feat, considering contestants have only about eight minutes to wow judges with two songs-one Hebrew and one Jewish-themed.
"When everyone's bringing their best to the table, you have to bring your best, too and hope that it's better," said Tizmoret's co-director and alto Leora Graber.
They never know which song will strike the right chord; Tizmoret's arrangement of "Gibor Shel Ta'uyot" turned out to be an audience favorite. The song begins with "Billy Jean" and surprises by breaking into a fast, upbeat song.
"We didn't know at the time it would have such staying power," she said. "That's what we're striving for-those moments when the audience goes, 'Whoa! That's really cool.' "
On Saturday, Jan. 23, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park will presentPerfect Pitch: America's Greatest Jewish Collegiate A Cappella Groups . The concert features five award-winning groups from different campuses: the Shabbatones (UPenn), Tizmoret (Queens College, NY), Jewop! (UW-Madison), HooSHIR (Indiana U), and ShireiNU (Northwestern University). will also perform. The evening will be MC'd by the Cantor Steve Stoehr of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook. For more information, visit the concert website at http://perfectpitch.bpt.me or call the synagogue office at (847)/432-8900.
Jennifer Brody is a former associate editor of JUF News and a freelance writer in Chicago.
On January 23, 2016, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL, will welcome over seventy college students, representing five campuses around the country in "Perfect Pitch: America's Greatest Jewish Collegiate A Capella Groups!"
Groups participating are Tizmoret (Queens College, New York); The Shabbatones (UPenn, Philadelphia); ShireiNU (Northwestern University, Chicago); HooSHIR (Indiana University, Bloomington); and Jewop! (UWisconsin, Madison).
With all the talk of anti-Israel rhetoric on campuses, discussions that Jewish students are having a hard time, it is important for communities around the country to celebrate the great successes of Jewish groups and Jewish students, and this concert will certainly reflect that!
The following article was published in Chicago's JUF News on December 21, 2015
Jewish a cappella on campus
By JENNIFER BRODY
Tizmoret’s soloist Thalia Sharon and other group members performs recently during the IHear Voices Concert. From left: Tali Rainess, Amanda Cinnamon, Leora Graber, Maddy Rosenbaum and Tamara Heller.
In the American musical comedy Pitch Perfect , world domination, singing talent, rivalries, friendships, and even a much needed vacation from boyfriends bring the Barden Bellas and other a cappella groups together.
In the real world of Jewish collegiate a cappella groups, singers blend their love of music with Jewish culture and identity. There are newbies and veterans, homebodies who perform closer to campus, and adventurous groups who tour all over.
So what's the "it" factor that makes Jewish a cappella groups, well, Jewish? Is it breaking out in song on Shabbat? Is it knowing Hebrew?
For Shabbatones President Aaron Zell, Jewish a cappella is all about sharing music with diverse audiences and honoring traditions. Earlier this year, the Shabbatones performed at the Wells Fargo Center for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. Last year, the group celebrated its bar mitzvah year with its "13" CD. That release includes "Achshav,"-which means "right now" in Hebrew)-its biggest hit of the last two years.
The group has shared its alumni song "Umacha" with President Obama and the First Lady and audiences stretching from California to South Florida. "Every time we have a concert and there are alumni in the audience, we invite them on stage to sing it with us," said Zell. "These moments of friendship are really powerful."
The group of 16 is excited about traveling to the Midwest in January to be part of an a cappella concert at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (NSS Beth El) in Highland Park, where Zell grew up. "I get to share my Shabbatones family with my family in Highland Park," said Zell, grandson of philanthropist Sam Zell and a Chicagoland Jewish High School graduate.
NSS Beth El's Hazzan Ben Tisser said song has been a huge part of Jewish identity for the last few centuries. When Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt, they broke out in song as soon as they crossed the Red Sea.
The synagogue's January Shabbat of Song weekend includes celebrating with Hebrew, Israeli, and American top 40 songs. The popularity of Glee and Pitch Perfect inspired the Highland Park synagogue to organize its first Jewish a cappella concert, which will feature some of the best Jewish collegiate a cappella groups from five campuses.
"We will bring over 70 college kids together in one building to showcase their art and show our kids that there's another way you can be Jewishly involved on campus."
While Tisser said he was familiar with a few groups, he researched others and decided to book Jewop after discovering their "great sound and fantastic energy" in a YouTube video.
The repertoire of Jewop includes Hebrew songs and arrangements with jazz and Afro-Cuban music. "We like to push the envelope of what a Jewish a cappella group can be," said Matt Allen, Jewop's co-music director. "One mash-up is an arrangement of "Salaam Rav" and "Ohev Shalom." It has a funky reggae tone, and people love it."
Allen, who grew up in a small town Wisconsin, joined Jewop as a junior. His girlfriend Nicole, who is Catholic, enlisted his help to master Hebrew pronunciation for some songs, and he had already seen her perform in the group's shows.
"Because there wasn't a huge Jewish community in the town where I grew up, I didn't become interested until I approached it through music," he recalled. (By the way, his mom is thrilled about this development).
Tizmoret at Queens College had a reputation for being the Orthodox-Jewish a cappella group, but its members include Reform Jews and secular Jews, and two non-Jews who are converting.
Members also share a competitive spirit, and it shows. All three times the group traveled to Washington, DC to compete in Kol Ha'Olam's National Jewish a cappella contest-2011, 2012, and 2015- it won first place. Not an easy feat, considering contestants have only about eight minutes to wow judges with two songs-one Hebrew and one Jewish-themed.
"When everyone's bringing their best to the table, you have to bring your best, too and hope that it's better," said Tizmoret's co-director and alto Leora Graber.
They never know which song will strike the right chord; Tizmoret's arrangement of "Gibor Shel Ta'uyot" turned out to be an audience favorite. The song begins with "Billy Jean" and surprises by breaking into a fast, upbeat song.
"We didn't know at the time it would have such staying power," she said. "That's what we're striving for-those moments when the audience goes, 'Whoa! That's really cool.' "
On Saturday, Jan. 23, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park will presentPerfect Pitch: America's Greatest Jewish Collegiate A Cappella Groups . The concert features five award-winning groups from different campuses: the Shabbatones (UPenn), Tizmoret (Queens College, NY), Jewop! (UW-Madison), HooSHIR (Indiana U), and ShireiNU (Northwestern University). will also perform. The evening will be MC'd by the Cantor Steve Stoehr of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook. For more information, visit the concert website at http://perfectpitch.bpt.me or call the synagogue office at (847)/432-8900.
Jennifer Brody is a former associate editor of JUF News and a freelance writer in Chicago.
North Suburban Synagogue Beth El Announces New Hazzan
By Community Contributor Marcie Eskin
August 5, 2015
North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (Beth El) in Highland Park, welcomes Hazzan Benjamin Tisser to the Beth El community. He assumed cantorial responsibilities for the 1,100 congregational families on July 1.
He comes to Beth El from B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida where he served as Hazzan. He previously worked with congregations in New York and Los Angeles. A graduate of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hazzan Tisser holds degrees in Hebrew Literature and Middle Eastern Political Science. He completed his Masters of Sacred Music and Cantorial Ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Born and raised in Los Angeles California, he was immersed in Conservative Judaism at an early age, having attended a Solomon Schechter elementary school, serving on the board of directors of his United Synagogue Youth chapter, and attending and working at Camp Ramah in California. In addition, he has taught Judaic Music for many years in Jewish Day Schools.
Hazzan Tisser has devoted his life to devotional music and shares his knowledge of Jewish music and his artistic talent as an active composer and performer. His composition was selected as a finalist at the 2013 Shalshelet Jewish Music Festival in Miami. In 2010, he released a collection of High Holiday favorites and now is working on a second album of original music. As a notable performer and lecturer, Hazzan Tisser has served as guest Cantor and Scholar in Residence at synagogues around the country, speaking on the changes in davening (prayer) style and "Shul Music" in Conservative synagogues.
He is very excited about the sacred work he will be undertaking at Beth El. "To join the talented clergy team of one of the flagship congregations of the Conservative movement is an honor, " Hazzan Tisser noted. " The opportunities that exist at Beth El for creative programming, teaching, study, and community building are limitless. From the moment I first visited the congregation I knew this was the right place for the next step in my career and certainly a wonderful community in which my wife Sarah and I would raise our children Talia and Ethan, with the best values Judaism has to offer. We are grateful to be here and look forward to the journey ahead!"
Hazzan Tisser was selected by Beth El after a rigorous search process that included surveying the synagogue membership to identify their most desirable attributes for next Hazzan, creating a "Vision" document to guide the selection committee, and undertaking an international search through the Cantorial Placement Commission of the Conservative Movement.
"After evaluating nineteen qualified candidates," Larry Pachter, Chair of the Search Committee explained, "Beth El was pleased to offer the position to Hazzan Tisser, based on his knowledge and skills as Shaliach Tzibur (Emissary of the Community), his knowledge and skills as a musician, his engaging personality, his ability to connect and teach members of all ages, and his experience working as Hazzan over the previous ten years."
Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune
By Community Contributor Marcie Eskin
August 5, 2015
North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (Beth El) in Highland Park, welcomes Hazzan Benjamin Tisser to the Beth El community. He assumed cantorial responsibilities for the 1,100 congregational families on July 1.
He comes to Beth El from B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida where he served as Hazzan. He previously worked with congregations in New York and Los Angeles. A graduate of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hazzan Tisser holds degrees in Hebrew Literature and Middle Eastern Political Science. He completed his Masters of Sacred Music and Cantorial Ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Born and raised in Los Angeles California, he was immersed in Conservative Judaism at an early age, having attended a Solomon Schechter elementary school, serving on the board of directors of his United Synagogue Youth chapter, and attending and working at Camp Ramah in California. In addition, he has taught Judaic Music for many years in Jewish Day Schools.
Hazzan Tisser has devoted his life to devotional music and shares his knowledge of Jewish music and his artistic talent as an active composer and performer. His composition was selected as a finalist at the 2013 Shalshelet Jewish Music Festival in Miami. In 2010, he released a collection of High Holiday favorites and now is working on a second album of original music. As a notable performer and lecturer, Hazzan Tisser has served as guest Cantor and Scholar in Residence at synagogues around the country, speaking on the changes in davening (prayer) style and "Shul Music" in Conservative synagogues.
He is very excited about the sacred work he will be undertaking at Beth El. "To join the talented clergy team of one of the flagship congregations of the Conservative movement is an honor, " Hazzan Tisser noted. " The opportunities that exist at Beth El for creative programming, teaching, study, and community building are limitless. From the moment I first visited the congregation I knew this was the right place for the next step in my career and certainly a wonderful community in which my wife Sarah and I would raise our children Talia and Ethan, with the best values Judaism has to offer. We are grateful to be here and look forward to the journey ahead!"
Hazzan Tisser was selected by Beth El after a rigorous search process that included surveying the synagogue membership to identify their most desirable attributes for next Hazzan, creating a "Vision" document to guide the selection committee, and undertaking an international search through the Cantorial Placement Commission of the Conservative Movement.
"After evaluating nineteen qualified candidates," Larry Pachter, Chair of the Search Committee explained, "Beth El was pleased to offer the position to Hazzan Tisser, based on his knowledge and skills as Shaliach Tzibur (Emissary of the Community), his knowledge and skills as a musician, his engaging personality, his ability to connect and teach members of all ages, and his experience working as Hazzan over the previous ten years."
Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune
JTS and B’nai Torah Congregation Present Voice of a People: Then, Now, Always—A John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Concert
Press Contact: Beatrice Mora
Office: (212) 678-8950
Email: bemora@jtsa.edu
DECEMBER 4, 2014, NEW YORK, NYH. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and B'nai Torah Congregation present Voice of a People: Then, Now, Always-A John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Concert at B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida on December 7, at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the community. Call (561) 392-8566 for more information or visit www.bnai-torah.org.
Featured performers will include Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Hazzan Benjamin Tisser of B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, and Cantor Nancy Abramson, director of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. The program introduces JTS cantorial students Rachel Brook, Sarah Levine, and Isaac Yager, and features accompanist Alan Mason, Grammy Award-winning pianist Howard Levy, and internationally renowned musician Joe Zeytoonian.
This program is cosponsored by the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Endowment Fund and the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. John Dellheim (z"l) was a Holocaust survivor who became a pioneer computer programmer at IBM. He deeply loved Judaism and Jewish music, and endowed the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recitals in order to bring Western cantorial music to synagogues around the United States via the graduating cantors of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School, thereby perpetuating the performance and transmission of Jewish sacred music to future generations.
The H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music is home to some of the most accomplished and creative faculty in Jewish and religious music and voice. Its educators are composers, cantors, and artists who prepare and guide new clergy to lead and perform, and to preserve and teach Jewish musical tradition and prayer to new generations of congregants. Students spend five years learning and integrating the skills that will allow them to serve the Jewish community as cantors and leaders. The training includes performance preparation, as well as studies in nusah, prayer, text skills, and general music.
Press Contact: Beatrice Mora
Office: (212) 678-8950
Email: bemora@jtsa.edu
DECEMBER 4, 2014, NEW YORK, NYH. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and B'nai Torah Congregation present Voice of a People: Then, Now, Always-A John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Concert at B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida on December 7, at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the community. Call (561) 392-8566 for more information or visit www.bnai-torah.org.
Featured performers will include Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Hazzan Benjamin Tisser of B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, and Cantor Nancy Abramson, director of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. The program introduces JTS cantorial students Rachel Brook, Sarah Levine, and Isaac Yager, and features accompanist Alan Mason, Grammy Award-winning pianist Howard Levy, and internationally renowned musician Joe Zeytoonian.
This program is cosponsored by the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Endowment Fund and the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. John Dellheim (z"l) was a Holocaust survivor who became a pioneer computer programmer at IBM. He deeply loved Judaism and Jewish music, and endowed the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recitals in order to bring Western cantorial music to synagogues around the United States via the graduating cantors of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School, thereby perpetuating the performance and transmission of Jewish sacred music to future generations.
The H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music is home to some of the most accomplished and creative faculty in Jewish and religious music and voice. Its educators are composers, cantors, and artists who prepare and guide new clergy to lead and perform, and to preserve and teach Jewish musical tradition and prayer to new generations of congregants. Students spend five years learning and integrating the skills that will allow them to serve the Jewish community as cantors and leaders. The training includes performance preparation, as well as studies in nusah, prayer, text skills, and general music.
B'nai Torah's New Cantor Brings Talent, Love of Hazzanut to Job
January 6, 2014|By David A. Schwartz, Staff Writer -- South Florida Jewish Journal
Benjamin Tisser, who was formally welcomed as B'nai Torah Congregation's new cantor last month, knows the modern synagogue musical repertoire. But the 30-year-old Tisser also is steeped in the traditional hazzanut or cantorial music.
Tisser received a Masters of Sacred Music from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and was invested as a cantor in May of last year, but he began studying cantorial music at the age of seven, a year after he first joined the cantor of his Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles on the bima.
"To hear [the music] once in the classroom and to grow up with it is a different thing," Tisser said. "If you don't know where it comes from, you can't make it alive."
In 2011, while Tisser was a student at JTS, he received the Cantors Assembly's Hazzan Louis Danto z"l Memorial Scholarship Award for excellence in the presentation of hazzanut. "That was a surprise," Tisser said. "It was special. It was a unique time." He added, "Danto had a beautiful voice."
Tisser knows a good deal about Danto and the other great cantors of the first half of the 20th century, considered the Golden Age of Hazzanut.
"I can't sing all of [Cantor Lieb] Glantz's music but I studied it," he said. "His She'ma [Yisrael] and [Tefilat] Tal were probably the most amazing things he did." Glantz was a contemporary of Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky, Tisser said. "Every cantor had his own sound...had moves that were his."
Jack Mendelson, a teacher, performer and full-time cantor at Temple Israel in White Plains, New York, whom Tisser studied with during his three years in cantorial school, praised the young cantor for his "beautiful tenor voice," his musicianship, and his unusual "propensity and talent for Eastern European cantorial music." Mendelson added, "He's almost atypical compared to other students that I come across."
While Tisser is "very well versed in the popular music of the synagogue today," he also is "an expert in the Nusach Hat'filah, the musical modalities of Jewish prayer," Mendelson said.
Tisser thinks we are living in a time in which the traditional arts are not valued. "To have an operatically-trained voice is not enough anymore," he said. "The way to keep it alive is to do it with art" and "sing from your kishkes." Tisser said he sings what he feels. "It's never the same."
Jeffrey Viselman, whose son Noah trained with Tisser for his November 2013 bar mitzvah, praised the cantor for his energy and enthusiasm. Tisser is genuine in his approach and believes in what he is singing, Viselman said. "He's not trying to turn it into the Cantor Ben show."
Tisser has a "younger vibe" and "seems to be bringing new life to the [B'nai Torah] community," Viselman said.
Rabbi David Englander of B'nai Torah Congregation, who conducts the family service with Tisser, said that although Tisser is only 30 years old, he has excellent prayer leadership skills and can carry a large congregation of worshipers.
Englander thinks Tisser will not have credibility problems with the older members of the synagogue. "People around here respect you for your skills and your education," Englander said. "He's going to win over any doubters."
January 6, 2014|By David A. Schwartz, Staff Writer -- South Florida Jewish Journal
Benjamin Tisser, who was formally welcomed as B'nai Torah Congregation's new cantor last month, knows the modern synagogue musical repertoire. But the 30-year-old Tisser also is steeped in the traditional hazzanut or cantorial music.
Tisser received a Masters of Sacred Music from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and was invested as a cantor in May of last year, but he began studying cantorial music at the age of seven, a year after he first joined the cantor of his Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles on the bima.
"To hear [the music] once in the classroom and to grow up with it is a different thing," Tisser said. "If you don't know where it comes from, you can't make it alive."
In 2011, while Tisser was a student at JTS, he received the Cantors Assembly's Hazzan Louis Danto z"l Memorial Scholarship Award for excellence in the presentation of hazzanut. "That was a surprise," Tisser said. "It was special. It was a unique time." He added, "Danto had a beautiful voice."
Tisser knows a good deal about Danto and the other great cantors of the first half of the 20th century, considered the Golden Age of Hazzanut.
"I can't sing all of [Cantor Lieb] Glantz's music but I studied it," he said. "His She'ma [Yisrael] and [Tefilat] Tal were probably the most amazing things he did." Glantz was a contemporary of Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky, Tisser said. "Every cantor had his own sound...had moves that were his."
Jack Mendelson, a teacher, performer and full-time cantor at Temple Israel in White Plains, New York, whom Tisser studied with during his three years in cantorial school, praised the young cantor for his "beautiful tenor voice," his musicianship, and his unusual "propensity and talent for Eastern European cantorial music." Mendelson added, "He's almost atypical compared to other students that I come across."
While Tisser is "very well versed in the popular music of the synagogue today," he also is "an expert in the Nusach Hat'filah, the musical modalities of Jewish prayer," Mendelson said.
Tisser thinks we are living in a time in which the traditional arts are not valued. "To have an operatically-trained voice is not enough anymore," he said. "The way to keep it alive is to do it with art" and "sing from your kishkes." Tisser said he sings what he feels. "It's never the same."
Jeffrey Viselman, whose son Noah trained with Tisser for his November 2013 bar mitzvah, praised the cantor for his energy and enthusiasm. Tisser is genuine in his approach and believes in what he is singing, Viselman said. "He's not trying to turn it into the Cantor Ben show."
Tisser has a "younger vibe" and "seems to be bringing new life to the [B'nai Torah] community," Viselman said.
Rabbi David Englander of B'nai Torah Congregation, who conducts the family service with Tisser, said that although Tisser is only 30 years old, he has excellent prayer leadership skills and can carry a large congregation of worshipers.
Englander thinks Tisser will not have credibility problems with the older members of the synagogue. "People around here respect you for your skills and your education," Englander said. "He's going to win over any doubters."