Rabbi/Cantor Beck meets Pope John Paul ll - 2005

RABBI/CANTOR VICTOR BECK. Victor began his professional singing career at the age of eight (8) when he was recruited by the Ben Friedman choir, which served Cantor Moshe Koussevitsky. He has been singing professionally ever since. For five years (from March of 1994 through March of 1999) Cantor and Rabbi Victor Beck was the originator, producer, director and On Air Host of the nationally syndicated radio show “ASK THE RABBI,” a question and answer call in talk show which was heard by approximately three quarters of a million people every Sunday morning in fifteen cities around the country.

As a Cantor, Victor has served two congregations during his career. Congregation Beth El of Flatbush, is located in Brooklyn, New York. He spent more than eight years as the cantor of this synagogue. He then moved to Congregation B’nai Sholom, in Rockville Centre, New York. There he shared the Bima with Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz for more than ten years. On Tuesday July 17, 2001, Victor was asked to represent the Jewish community, when several hundred family members and friends of those who perished on the ill fated TWA Flight 800 gathered together with clergy, politicians and other community leaders for a Fifth Anniversary Memorial Service. In his capacity as the sole representative of the Jewish clergy, he sang two prayers during the program.

In 2002, Cantor Victor Beck accepted the Presidency of the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America, the oldest (formed in 1896) cantorial organization in the Americas. In November of 2004, Victor was appointed as the U.S. Director of Special Events and Projects for Meir Panim, an Israeli charitable organization which is dedicated to feeding those who are hungry in Israel.

In January (2005), Victor was very proud to lead a group of thirteen cantors (all of them members of the JMCA) to Rome, Italy. In Rome, the JMCA hosted the first ever cantorial concert to be given at the Great Synagogue of Rome. He was privileged to produce, direct and perform in this historic event with the exceptional help of several members of the JMCA. This concert helped celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Great Synagogue and was performed to a full house.

In his private time, Cantor Beck spent a good deal of time and effort continuing his own personal studies toward the goal of receiving S’micha and becoming a rabbi. On January 19th, 2006, he was finally presented with an intermediary certificate at the American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism, proclaiming him as Rav V’Yisrael. He then continued his studies at Yeshivah Mesilat Yesharim – Rabbinical Academy of America where he then qualified for his second S’micha, with the injunction of Yoreh Yoreh on April 23, 2007. On August 1st, 2008, Rabbi/Cantor Victor I. Beck was again recognized by Yeshivah Mesilat Yesharim, and was granted a Doctorate of Divinity. He was also the founding President of the ASCJ.

Rabbi Roller hails from Brooklyn NY. Rabbi Roller offers 30 years of professional rabbinic experience, with extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of Jewish spirituality, chaplaincy, adult education, and life cycle ceremonies .He studied Rabbinics at Tifereth Israel Rabbinical Academy of America in New York, and received smicha in 1980. In addition to Rabbinic Ordination, he studied in Hebrew,and Judaic studies,at the Skirball Department of Judaic Studies at New York University, where he studied with Dr. Cyrus Gordon and Dr. Nathan Winter. He received his Teachers certificate from the National association of Temple Educators and has a life time teaching certificate from California State Community Colleges in Religion and Philosophy.

After Several years of Pulpit work Rabbi Roller returned to the private sector where he continues to interface with the Jewish community by teaching, filling in with Pulpit work, and doing lifecycle work. Rabbi Roller’s mission is to offer Jewish resources (educational, cultural and holiday programming, counseling, conversion, life-cycle services) to those who fall between the cracks of the existing institutions, who haven’t found their way to affiliating, or who have a need that the existing institutions are not able to fulfill.

He grew up in an Orthodox home and after intense study for the rabbinate and ordained, he decided that his liberal outlook and graduate school studies made him a “Post-denominational” rabbi, for there is a great deal to be learned from all branches of Judaism. While living, working and studying in Israel, Rabbi Roller became associated with the administrators of Yeshivah Mesilat Yesharim which had been established following the teachings of Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement. They convinced Rabbi Roller to bring the yeshivah to America.

Rabbi David Roller was one of only 36 American rabbis and the only Californian who went to Paris in March, 2003 with a delegation from the North American Boards of Rabbis for a conference aimed at addressing anti-Semitism in France along with the strained relations between the two countries. The event was also sponsored by the World Jewish Congress in cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican. The trip also produced some unexpected moments of solidarity. One came in a meeting with the iman of the Muslim Institute of the Mosque of Paris, Muslim leader, Dalil Doubakeur. Rabbi Roller also spoke with Nicolas Sarkozy, then the French interior minister, who he feels is a true friend to Israel.

Rabbi Roller also met then Cardinal Ratzinger- now Pope Benedict. The Board of Governors of Yeshivah Mesilat Yesharim recently determined to expand the scope of the school first by Incorporating the school at an Arizona location (since that is where Rabbi Roller makes his home), and by doing so identifying this academy as an American entity. They then determined to bring the Yeshivah into the Twenty First Century by utilizing modern educational methods and by broadening the field of prospective students. The incorporated title of the school is now recognized as: Yeshivah Mesilat Yesharim – Rabbinical Academy of America.

Bringing the Yeshivah under the umbrella of the American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism, was a natural move since it gives us ready access to use modern technologies in the education process. It also permits us to retain the time honored and centuries old techniques of a student studying “at the feet” of his mentor, while at the same time gaining all the benefits of modern research abilities and communications. Use of available technologies means that a student is no longer restricted to studying only with those mentors who live within his community. We now have the ability to match mentors and students from various parts of the country or even the world, so that each student will have the flexibility to study different topics with individuals who have specialized in their areas of interest. For the first time Yeshivah Mesillat Yesharim will actually be involved with an active outreach program to find and attract a multitude of students.

Rabbi David Roller is uniquely qualified to be a leader in this movement and looks forward to the future with great anticipation.

Dr. Robert E. Cohen has spent the majority of his professional career in Synagogue and Jewish Communal Life, in a variety of roles and capacities for the individual institutions and organizations that he has worked for over the years. He received his Secular Training from C. W. Post College, Adelphi University and Hofstra University in the 1970‘s and 1980‘s, always majoring in Elementary, Special and Secondary Education and Educational Administration and Supervision.

Mr. Cohen eventually became a student in the HUC-JIR Long Island Extension Program for Educators, where he studied Jewish History, Hebrew, Philosophy and Educational Administration, under the supervision of some of the most well known Jewish Educators, Rabbis, and Jewish Communal Professionals in the New York Metro Area, of the Late 1970’s and Early 1980’s.

Dr. Cohen continued his involvement in the American Jewish Community by working at a variety of Jewish Educational Institutions and Synagogue Religious Schools. Among his many roles and responsibilities, a Religious School Teacher, Youth Congregation Director, Educational Director, Day School Headmaster. As the co-founder of The American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism, and it’s founding Executive Director he helped in setting the foundation and direction that the school would take. As we enter our newest phase of development, he now serves as the Chancellor Emeritus.