Im so glad that were going to spend a little bit of time reflecting on your career, your innovations and programming and your reflections of what you do in the jewish landscape. Lets jump in and rewind a long way. What attracted yo you to congregation emmanuel, what attracted you to become a cantor . How did that evolve for you . It was never my intention to become a cantor. Men were cantors. When i first heard that women were becoming cantors i was shocked and appalled. I didnt kuwait know where to go with it. I was still pursuing on opera career and start song career. I wanted to be a resitlist. I moved away from that in my teen years and started focusing on Classical Music training and had very intense studies in Classical Music, which was my first passion. I had a very wide range of experience in all kinds of music through my mothers purchasing of recordings of all sorts of music. It was constantly playing in the house. Music was my focus and passion. I knew i was going to be in music someday. I studied at the Manhattan School of music, went to high school of music and art. I was saturated with it. It was in my dna. After a while, after leaving Manhattan School of music i was kind of wandering around new york entering competitions and trying to find my way. Eventually i wound up in israel singing opera in israel. For the israel opera company. Yes. It was an interest ing experience. Someday maybe ill write a book. I left the opera and had a little bit of career in concerts. I sing with the harmonic, symphony. I got married and had a baby in israel so things shifted. We came back to the United States in 1977 and by sheer luck i managed to find my first job ever in reform synagogue singing in the coral quartet. I was hooked after that. The congregation encouraged me to enter cantor cool so i did. It was not the path i choose for myself, it was sort of chosen for me and it worked out. You know, i was 4 years into college and it was an eye opening experience. I really found it to be the path that i think was right for me all along, to be in this position of not only dealing with the musical aspect of worship and of life in general but also having an effect on peoples lives because you are so involved in every aspect of peoples life when youre in the synagogue. It sounds like the way youve talked so beautifully about this journey that for you music was a core part of your personal spiritual nourishment. Absolutely. And it is a nit to the deeper part of your own spiritual development. Well, i have always found that music for me brought me to a much higher place and connected me in some way to connected me in every way to the life of the spirit. When i was professional singer in new york i sang in new york because thats what professional singers did. They would sing in church. I was in every possible denomination that you can imagine, some that were very interesting. I always reacted in my soul to any kind of music that was connecting with god. I will weep copious lye. Those things move me greatly. So does opera but in a different way. Cantor barak were going to take a quick break. What a beautiful start to our conversation in mosaic. Join us in just a moment when we return to our conversation with cantor barak. Welcome back to mosaic. Cantor barak what did we just see . What was that a clip of . That was a clip of a piece written by simon thargon. Its a setting of its five poems on poetry of primo lavi who survived holocaust but was a deeply depressed human being after wards and wrote incredible poetry about his experiences. Those songs ill probably be performing again in april at the Community Holocaust commemoration. That took place at a Concert Series that ive run for 12 years now called music at mire at the temple. I do not usually perform on this series. That was just our one concert several years ago that we gave. Usually i bring in other artists from around the country and around the city to you know, its a Classical Music series. Its had some real success. Its a wonderful series. I do t once a year, seven concerts from january through the spring. And open to the public. Open to the public. We have a Facebook Page , music at mire. Were in the mist of our series now. We just had a concert the other night with the San Francisco opera adler fellers. Through may well have a series of concerts. Ive had some incredible artists. What atrackedck attracted you to San Francisco and the congregation itself . At the time i was applying for positions there were three congregations that were interested in me and one was emmanuel. One was in michigan, one was in philadelphia and when i walked off the plane in San Francisco and the sun hit me in the eye it was a no brainer. When i saw the building, met the people it was love at first sight. I just knew that i longed here. Even longed that i belonged here. Even though it was away from new york and i had to bring my son with me who was a mets fan that was you have tough but it was clear. Also very often you think of going out for a job and will they like me and they choose me but honestly i looked into the history of the place and when i know they only had five cantors in 125 years it was clear that this was a place that loved their clergy and choose them and respected them and honored them. Music had been pivotal to the relationship that emmanuel had to its congregates and the community at large. We have a couple of clips that were going to share. Can you share with us what were going to see from third baptist. Yeah. Since i came we began this exactly when i came there was a partnership formed with Third Baptist Church and we also got together on Martin Luther king weekend and the church would come to us on friday night and bring their choir and then we would go there on sunday morning and i would usually sing. Over the years ive done presentations trying to introduce the community there to some of the jewish culture and jewish music and also sometimes i just came with a message. This particular year with all the troubles thats been happening, all the problems weve had with ferguson and all the racist stuff thats been going on i brought a message of keeping hope alive. Heres lets go Third Baptist Church and a great clip of cantor barak. There are three ways to express grief, three ways to mourn. The first is to cry, the second is to grow silent and the third is to sing. So well sing today. Through these three little songs well sing about transformation, how to deal with this. Theres a little yiddish song, its not so little but im just going to sing a little bit of it, its a song that some of you know the old song, i pick myself up, i dust myself off and i start all over again. This one is in yiddish and says the same thing. It says well, it says something but i dont have it in front of me. What it says is with the world with me around with a really rough hand it carries me through fire and excuse the express in a Baptist Church but hell. It said i burn and burn but i am not consumed, i keep going. I get up and i keep going. So thats the first way to deal with this. [singing] then theres another way to deal with it. Cantor barak at Third Baptist Church here in San Francisco. Well take a quick break and come back to mosaic in just a moment. Welcome back to mosaic. Were here with cantor barak who spent a lot of her career with emmanuel. Shes about to retire in september. October. Im think ing ing of your long and beautiful career. What have you seen in terms of the use of music in the jewish landscape and congregations in the community . Oh, my. Classical re form was rather formal. When i came to San Francisco we were still in classical reform mode. It was a very short friday night service, half an hour. It was 5 30 and ended at 6 00. Not a whole lot of music in the service but just enough. A lot of english in the prayer. When we remodeled our martin mire sank ware we move ed sanctuary it stretched to an hour. More music, more hee bree hee hebrew. Debby was a songwriter and singer who made a big im in the jewish community. Her music was touching and contemporary. Music has changed dramatically now. Its very different. Instead of the or gan organ theres key boards of all kinds and instruments of all kinds and guitar. Something at emmanuel something youve had to do with the congregation and worldwide is brought a lot of music to interface settings. We have a clip of you with other cantors in rome. Yes. Im wondering if you can set that up and watch what youre doing in rome with music. Well, i was approached by the president of the american conference of cantors with a project that would sort of build bridges between the jewish and catholic communities. We were told we were going to go sing the at vatican. It was very exciting. Somehow it started coming come and i actually programmed the concert. It included a lot of different musics all different styles and different centuries of jewish music. We had 20 cantors. We all went even some from the bay area to rome. We didnt wind up singing at the vatican but we gave a concert in a Beautiful Church in the center of rome. We had a very wonderful experience there. We brought this music to people who might never hear it so lets take a look at cantor barak and her colleagues in rome. [singing] [singing] that was cantor barak in rome. Please join us here again in a moment when we return to mosaic. Welcome back to mosaic. Were in a conversation with cantor barak. I know youve been involved in so many peoples lives. I dont think a lot of people that in jewish life youre like a rabbi, does hospital visits, the whole range of clergy activity. I wonder if you can talk about how you used music and how music is used to support people through funerals, weddings, happy occasions, sad occasions. Ive had some really dramatic moments with that. Visiting a person who is dying and singing to them. I had one incredible experience where one woman, a lovely congergant was more or less unconscious. She was about to pass. I went to visit her and held her hand and sang psalm 23 and right after i finished there were two puffs and she was gone. That was actually shattering in a way but also quite beautiful to be there at that time and to know that she went peacefully on the wings of song. People tell me all the time how much it means to them. I think, you know, working in partnership with a rabbi you experience the cognitive and then you experience the effective. So you get the intellect, the message, the learning, text and knowledge and the ability to feel through the music, to emote, to express things that you may not be able to express other wise. I know its very powerful for people to hear music, to hear soulful music and to be supported that way. I think music is a very supportive thing as far as your emotional life. You know, its amazing that were at the end of our time together. Its almost putting a comma in the conversation. Were going to end with a clip from more music you brought from the Baptist Church. I just want to say thank you for being with us cantor barak. Thank you. You gave some so much to the community at large. Do you want to set up what were going to see . That morning when i was discussing how we deal with grief and pain i ended with a text from palm that said those who weep in tears will have joy. I started it off myself and everyone started to join in. It became an incredible out pouring together. This is from the Third Baptist Church. Please enjoy. So the third way to deal with this is to hang onto hope. Just keep hanging on. It says in palm 126 those who sow in fear shall reap in joy. We need to remember that. We need to never give up on that. [singing] sunday. Im your host Frank Mallicoat we have a special show today. You will meet a southern raised chef with her good morning, everyone. Welcome to bay sunday. We have a special show today. Youre going to meet a Southern Chef with her take on comfort food and our political expert melissa kay sits down with three news makers. Its all good. At the gate first chef Jennifer Booker who i spoke to earlier this week. Welcome back to bay sunday. Shes a familiar face in the world of cooking, southern raised and educated at the university of tulsa, shes in