Cantor Lauren Phillips Fogelman
Engaging Prayer Leader • Dynamic Educator • Collaborative Colleague • Versatile Musician
Praised for her “blithe, welcoming voice,” (Chicago Classical Review), Cantor Lauren Phillips Fogelman began her tenure at Temple Beth Abraham in Tarrytown, NY on July 1, 2023. Before that, she spent five years serving Temple Israel of Northern Westchester (TINW) in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. Cantor Fogelman is known for her creative and engaging young family programs, her thoughtfully crafted worship for both youth and adults, her insightful teaching of congregants of all ages both on and off the bima, and her sensitive and individualized ability to mentor students preparing to become B'nai Mitzvah.
​
Cantor Fogelman was ordained from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2013 and holds degrees from Tufts University and The Boston Conservatory. She previously served Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, Connecticut, Congregation Sinai in Milwaukee, WI, and as student cantor at Union Temple, the oldest Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, NY. She is a dual member of the Reform Movement's American Conference of Cantors and the Conservative Movement's Cantors Assembly. Career highlights include leading TINW’s choir, Hallel B’Shir, to two triumphant performances at the North American Jewish Choral Festival; founding the award-winning Sinai in the City program for young professionals (winner of a Union for Reform Judaism Belin Outreach and Membership Award); and singing the National Anthem at a Milwaukee Brewers Game.
​
In addition to being an accomplished prayer leader and musician, Cantor Fogelman has a diverse portfolio of expertise in many areas including B'nai Mitzvah preparation, pastoral counseling, and media relations. Cantor Fogelman's musical compositions are published by Transcontinental Music Publications (TMP). She is honored to be a member of TMP's Executive Committee and is featured as a vocalist on the newly-released tenth-anniversary volume of the acclaimed Shabbat Anthology series. As a writer, Cantor Fogelman's essays have appeared frequently at ReformJudaism.org. She also contributed to the recent volume, Prophetic Voices: Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah, published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis Press. She has mentored teenagers on a National Federation For Temple Youth (NFTY) trip to Israel, Poland, and the Czech Republic in prayer and service leadership, guiding them towards creating meaningful moments of communal worship. As a pastoral caregiver, Cantor Fogelman served as chaplain intern in the Breast Cancer and Gynecology Unit at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In this sacred role, she helped patients cope through some of life's most difficult challenges.
​
At HUC-JIR, Cantor Fogelman presented a capstone thesis and recital called, “A Stranger Here Myself: The Postcard Project as an Exploration of Jewish Musical Identity.” The program explored an initiative from the 1930s in which prominent Jewish composers arranged Israeli folk songs that were printed on postcards by the Jewish National Fund. The postcards were created to inspire Jews in the Diaspora to make aliyah, and the songs were among the first examples of secular Hebrew music to reach Europe. She lectures on this topic frequently, including appearances at Limmud Chicago and the North American Jewish Choral Festival.
​
As a performer, Cantor Fogelman has appeared on stages across the United States, Italy, and Israel. She performed as a recitalist at Manhattan’s renowned 92nd Street Y, where she also spent several years working first as a publicist and later as a Jewish Educator. She has also appeared on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Jazz at Lincoln Center as an alumna of Hazamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir. Most recently, she co-chaired and performed in "An Afternoon of Music and Joy" co-sponsored by Kol Hazzanim (Westchester Community of Cantors) and the Westchester Jewish Council, featuring 21 cantors from all over Westchester County.
​
Cantor Fogelman lives in Croton-on-Hudson with her husband, Dan, and sons, Alex and Evan.
Biography: