Shelter Rock Jewish Center

Cantor Benjamin Matis comes to us from Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, New Jersey, where he was the Senior Cantor of an 800 family congregation. At Temple Beth Shalom, Cantor Matis lead all Shabbat and High Holiday services, instructed b’nai mitzvah students, taught adult education classes on Jewish Music, and began a children’s choir. In addition, he engaged professional Jewish singers for High Holiday services, for which he personally arranged all the music.

While a cantorial student, he served as part-time Cantor at the Highland Park Conservative Temple in New Jersey. There, after a fire devastated the sanctuary, Cantor Matis brought together some of the great cantorial talents of our era, among them Sol Zim and Alberto Mizrahi, for a fundraising concert for the shul.

Cantor Matis has performed a number of operatic roles, including Rodolfo in La Boheme, and the lead in Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land. He has been a member of the Baltimore Opera Company Chorus and the men’s choir at the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem.

Cantor Matis received his Master’s of Sacred Music from the H. L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He earned a Master of Arts in Music History from Queens College and a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Cantor Matis has also studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

Cantor Matis is the proud parent of Jacob (age 10) and Shoshana (age 4) and is married to Stephanie Stolzenberg. We are so pleased to have him and his family join our proud community at Shelter Rock Jewish Center.