Meet the clergy

In a career that has been all about leading groups of all ages in song, Anna West Ott is Cantor Emerita at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, NJ, where she trained hundreds of children for Bar and Bat Mitzvah,  directed 3 choirs and a multigenerational band, as well as founded and directed for fourteen years what is now HaZamir Central Jersey. She currently is the Artistic Director of Kol Dodi Community Chorale of Metro-West and co-directs Makhelat Hamercaz Jewish Choir in Central NJ, and has created and participated in many Interfaith/Multicultural events.  Her Anshe Segulah Men’s Chorus sang at many Yom Hashoah observances in Central New Jersey.

Cantor David Wallach Born in a small Wisconsin Jewish community, Cantor David Wallach has always held a strong connection with his Jewish identity and practice. After singing for 15 years as a professional opera singer in New York, he started to recognize the need to foster a greater religious and community connection and did this with his pursuit of the Cantorate. He received his Masters in Sacred Music becoming an invested Cantor from the HL Miller Cantorial School. Cantor Wallach also received his Master’s in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. With the rebirth of religious learning, he has never found himself more fulfilled. David recognizes that if Judaism is to flourish, proper education may be the clergy and educator’s greatest responsibility and joy. And to him, the true meaning of Tikkun Olam.

Cantor David has most recently served as assistant Cantor to Hazzan Mark Biddleman at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. At the Orangetown Jewish Center Cantor Wallach was an educational intern, performing a number of different duties including conducting and providing music for the religious school as well as teaching and tutoring. He has also served as Jewish educator at various synagogues in the New York/New Jersey area.

Hazzan Carey Cohen was born and raised in Toronto, Canada where he began singing in his synagogue choir at the age of 10. The choir performed in concert in Canada and in Carnegie Hall, recorded an album of synagogue prayers, along with participating in services on a regular basis under the direction of the world renowned Hazzan, Zvee Aroni z'l.

He has served congregations for over thirty years in the USA. He, then, went on to direct an adult special needs program at the local JCC and served as the Camp Administrator for the JCC’s overnight, Camp Interlaken, and its Judaic advisor for over eleven years. Hazzan Carey enjoys working with Bar/Bat Mitzvah students and enjoys their celebration every step of the way with them.

Hazzan Carey is a graduate of the Manhattan School for Cantors which was directed by Hazzan Zvee Aroni z'l. Upon his graduation, he was appointed the administrator of the cantorial school from 1975-1979.

Hazzan Carey has served on the executive council of the Cantors Assembly(Conservative Movement), where he previously served from 1994-1997. He served as the co-chair of their international convention held in Milwaukee in 1994, as Management co-chairperson for their annual International Conventions for fifteen years and has served in many positions on local cantorial and musician boards.

Hazzan Carey has also served as a member of the community’s Jewish Chaplaincy Service.

He received the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2015 from the Cantor Assembly.

Mark Biddelman led Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in prayer, song and study for 48 years, 1967 to 2015.

A New Jersey native, he has been conducting services and singing for Jewish organizations since the age of seven. He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology and is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion School of Sacred Music from which he received his Investiture, Cantorial Certification and Bachelor of Sacred Music degree. The college also awarded him the degree of Doctor of Music honorous causum. Cantor Biddelman is certified as a Hebrew school and music teacher by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the New York Federation of Synagogues.

Throughout the years, Cantor Biddelman has been a musical innovator and has composed numerous musical settings for the Shabbat prayers. In 1971 he composed the first folk-rock service for Shabbat Eve ever to be performed in a Conservative synagogue. Music from this service has become part of the contemporary Jewish Synagogue liturgical repertoire and is being sung in synagogues throughout the U.S. and Canada. In 1991 he composed another setting for the Friday eve service scored for electronic instruments. In addition, he has written other original compositions of Jewish content and his settings of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah blessings were published in the official Life Cycle Handbook of the American Conference of Cantors.

Cantor Biddelman has appeared as guest cantor at congregations throughout the metropolitan area, conducted services in Israel and appeared on radio and TV. He has also been the recipient of several awards including B’nai B’rith Man of the Year in 1990 and the Israel Bonds Sh’ma Yisrael Award in 1988. In 1994 he was inducted as an honorary Fellow of the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 2022 he received the degree of Doctor of Music honorous causum from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is a past Executive Vice President, President, Vice President and Secretary of the New Jersey region of the Cantors Assembly, and has served as a conductor of the New Jersey Cantors Choral Ensemble, the world’s very first choir of both men and women cantors.

During his tenure at Temple Emanuel, Cantor Biddelman has prepared over 2,000 youngsters for Bar and Bat Mitzvah and prepared dozens of children and adults to conduct daily and High Holiday services. He continues to present concerts and programs and conducts services for senior citizens at facilities throughout northern New Jersey. Cantor Biddelman and his wife Bette, a craftswoman, are active members of the Jewish community and the community at large. His daughter Terra, also a craftswoman, and his grandson Elijah live in Austin, Texas.

Rabbi Claire Ginsburg-Goldstein was raised in Chicago where she attended Akiba Jewish Day School, a modern Orthodox Day School. She realized at a young age that she was more of a non-denominational Jew, but always passionate about Israel. After her traditional Conservative Bat Mitzvah at the age of 13, Rabbi Claire began to tutor others for B’nai Mitzvah, Hebrew decoding and reading; as she was passionate about teaching her love for the Jewish religion to these young children. Her first trip to Israel happened when she was a freshman at Northwestern University. Rabbi Claire has been tutoring and traveling to Israel ever since. In addition to her bachelors degree from Northwestern in Sociology and a teaching certificate for Middle school, she studied at Spertus College of Judaica, where her mother was a professor. She received a Bachelors of Hebrew Letters from there as well. Rabbi Claire continued her studies at Jewish Theological Seminary earning a Masters in Jewish education and a Masters in Interdisciplinary studies. She published articles on Jewish education and "re-Jew-ne-vational" approaches to Jewish education. Along with those two masters, she also earned a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. In 1982, when women did not have opportunities to become ordained rabbis, Rabbi Claire began to work in the JCC world as a social worker and camp director. After getting married and having 4 children, Rabbi Claire followed her dream where she attended The Academy for Jewish Religion, followed by Rabbinic Seminary International. She completed her studies in June of 2012 and became an ordained Rabbi. During this time, she was hired as a "mitzvah manager" while revamping the curriculum for middle schoolers at Beth Israel congregational school in Bergenfield. In 2002, her son Sam gave her the impetus to start “ Bears from Bergenfield.” They collect stuffed animals for children in Israel suffering from terror. To date, they have collected and redistributed over 183,500 stuffed toys to Israel, Bergen County, and the South Bronx. Rabbi Claire has trained over 600+ students for B’nai Mitzvah, mostly trained at Surprise Lake Camp, where she served 18 years as their in house Rabbi.