Reflecting on the past 18 years, Cantor Allen Leider is most proud of the change he’s brought to Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church.
The soon-to-retire director of lifelong learning has changed the religious school’s curriculum, expanded educational opportunities for the temple’s adults and deepened members’ connections to Judaism. Leider joked that if he weren’t married, he would continue working forever.
He lives in Reston with wife, Tracy, who is also close to retirement.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
My upbringing was a little wacky. My dad was raised Orthodox and my mother was kind of culturally Jewish, so it was a kind of compromise. I grew up Conservative [Jewish]. We ended up with a trace set of dishes in our kitchen so we could eat Chinese food. I hadn’t had a Reform experience until my senior year of college at the University of Michigan and it was there that my Glee Club director came up to me and said, “Are you Jewish?” I was studying to be an elementary school music teacher, and he goes, “I have a friend who’s a rabbi, and they’re looking for someone to sing on Friday night and teach in their music and religious school.” And I loved the experience; it was this big revelation moment [of] “this is what I should be doing with my life.” The next year, I applied to Hebrew Union College in New York. That’s how it all began.
Have you always been interested in music?
I spent one year trying to decide whether I wanted to go into engineering or music, and to my parents’ dismay, I decided on music. But when that led to being a cantor, they were really happy.
What are your favorite songs to sing?
My favorite songs to sing [are] anything that has a sense of spirituality to it and can bring people together. It could be an American folk song; it could be a Hebrew prayer. I love leading and doing Jewish meditation. I have this spiritual teaching side to what I do.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
There is no typical day in my life because I do so many things. At the congregation, I started out here running the religious school for eight years. We had 900 kids in school — I think we’re the third largest religious school in the country. I had no time to do anything else on the board side, but [the temple staff] really wanted me to get involved in adult learning. I said, “We’re going to have to change the model and get somebody else to run the religious school.” And we didn’t follow that. Now my focus is on supporting our adult education committee, which puts on 20 programs a year. They’re incredibly active, and that ranges from films to bringing in scholars to having me teach different classes. I’m usually either supporting the committee in some way or working on an upcoming class.
What are your responsibilities as TRS’ director of lifelong learning?
Part of it is clergy support. As a cantor, I support our clergy team when they need it; that could mean a wedding, a funeral or teaching in the community. I’m responsible for adult learning in our congregation, and that’s a big umbrella that includes a lot of classes and programs.
I teach kindergarten through second grade youth choir. In fact, I just wrote a song for them called “Rodef Shalom,” which means “leading to peace.”
What are you working on now?
Now, I’m focused on retirement because that’s only seven weeks away. I’m really focused here now on my job because I want to help the transition to Rabbi Sarah Tasman, who’s going to be my successor. But I’m also thinking about what retirement is going to look like; my wife and I are going to take ballroom dancing lessons. I will still be doing some teaching in the congregation. They’ve already asked me to do a wise aging class. I found out about a Rosh Hashanah cruise that’s looking for a cantor to lead their service.
What message do you want to leave behind at TRS?
Keep learning. There’s a reason why my position is called “director of lifelong learning.” Many people stop their Jewish learning after bar or bat mitzvah. There is so much richness and so much depth and guidance that Judaism offers us; it’s worthwhile and can improve our lives if we just keep learning and connecting.
