The resume of a songleader

Just after I signed up for the Hava Nashira mailing list, a list member accidentally sent the cover letter of his resume to the list. I'm very glad he did, because it provides a wonderful snapshot into the making of a song leader. Here's the cover letter, with the author's name and contact info removed. He is job hunting, so if the cover letter looks interesting let me know and I'll help you get in touch.

"My name is anonymous and I'm a second year at UCLA. I currently songlead for the Kesher (reform) community at UCLA Hillel. Please find attached my resume.

Growing up with the Bureau of Jewish Education in Orange County, Camp SWIG and Camp Newman, Temple Beth David in Westminster, and UCLA Hillel, have been exposed to many different ways of practicing Judaism. My first love in Judaism was music; at a Bureau retreat in 4th grade I discovered the power of the Jewish song session as I lost myself in Debbie Friedman melodies. I learned to songlead at Camp SWIG in Saratoga with Cantor Wally Schachet-Briskin, Steve Krause and others. In high school, I have held songleading positions at a number of temples in Orange County as well as special events such as Shabbat Alive, a big community event through OC JCC and the Bureau.

I was the founding musician/songleader/tefilah leader for Surf City Synagogue in Huntington Beach, which is now associated with the Conservative movement. I worked as a staff songleader at Camp Newman where I led daily tfillah and songsessions as well as camp-wide events on Shabbat.

Since going to college, I have limited my songleading to on campus programming, but am now looking to expand beyond Westwood. Temple anonymous would be a great next step for me. I visited Israel last winter with Birthright and plan to study abroad there in the near future.

This letter was reprinted with permission of the author. Thanks!