Spiritual Leader, Singer, Healer, Educator
Cantor and Kohenet Hebrew Priestess
Life Cycle Officiant
Shayndel facilitates life cycle events and travels for destination ceremonies. She will work with you to co-create weddings, funerals, bar/bat mitzvahs, baby namings, blessingways, births and other rites of passage.
Shayndel officiates new rituals that serve to recognize and honor major life changes to support you in times of joy and times of sorrow. Some 'out of the box' events that may call for sacred and creative ceremony include: adoption, grief rituals, life changes, home blessings and space clearings.
When we enact sacred ritual, we deepen our ability to integrate, uplift and consciously transform ourselves.
We initiate a shift that helps us to grow with wisdom toward the next steps of our life's journey.
Service Leader ~ Liturgist
Hazzan Shayndel leads Shabbat, Weekday, Rosh Chodesh, Havdalah, High Holidays and Festival Services and coordinates Jewish retreats, Shabbatons and classes. She is skilled in traditional nusach and engaging melodies and also composes new liturgical chants. Shayndel has provided prayer leadership in a wide spectrum of Jewish settings, ranging from Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, feminist, contemplative, earth-based and interfaith services. She is flexible in meeting the needs of those whom she serves.
Shayndel plays guitar, lyre, Native American flute, recorder, drum and Tibetan bowls. Her leadership style is inviting, participatory, spiritual and heart-opening.
Spiritual Guidance
Hazzan Shayndel offers one on one sessions, creating sacred time for clear presence, deep listening and reflection of matters of the soul and dream interpretation.
If a particular intention or theme arises for you during the session, she may suggest chants or prayers.
If you are wanting to explore or deepen your understanding of Judaism, Shayndel is available for private studies or group classes. Topics may include: Torah, liturgy, Jewish festivals and the cycle of the year, Jewish feminism and Kabbalah.
Contact kolrefuah@gmail.com to schedule.
Payments made through venmo to @shayndeladler
Shayndel was incredible to work with, not just as an officiant, but as a thoughtful and gifted visionary partner as we designed our beautiful wedding ceremony.
She was very helpful in assisting us in envisioning an interfaith ceremony that incorporated some traditional Jewish elements, as well as earth-based and secular, spiritual elements.
We loved that she led us in an art-based marriage visioning exercise, gave us a couple's sound bath in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and incorporated playing Native American flute during the ceremony.
She is an incredibly kind and warm human, and a poised and competent officiant. I would highly recommend her as an officiant for your special day!
~Benya Basseches
Hazzan Shayndel brought her sweet voice and engaging spirit to the monthly services we led together at Congregation Bet Haverim for over eight years. She also served as our high holiday cantor and was an educator in our religious school.
People in our community were always left feeling uplifted and inspired. She brought wonderful new melodies and was very comfortable singing those melodies the congregation already knew. She often accompanied her singing with drum, flute, guitar and lyre. Shayndel is a delight to work with. She was professional, engaged in whatever we worked on and was always ready with lots of ideas, took initiative and was always willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. She used her music to weave together musical d'var torahs. When Shayndel sings, you can feel the deep passion and spiritual connection that she brings to the music of her prayers and it gets transmitted to the congregation as well. Leading prayer is not just a job for her, but resonates from a deep place in her soul.
-Rabbi Greg Wolfe
Congregation Bet Haverim
Cantor Shayndel has served as our Cantor with integrity, compassion and warmth. She fully integrated into our community and earned our respect, admiration and affection.
In partnership with our rabbi, she blended her musical skill and talent with her sincerity to help make our Shabbat and holiday observances deeply meaningful.
Her dedication to the students of our religious school, particularly her gentle yet effective B'nai Mitzvah training, earned the respect and gratitude of our students and their parents. Additionally, her adult education classes were highly informative and very well received. It is my honor to recommend Cantor Shayndel Adler as a spiritual leader and educator without any reservations.
-Michael R Cohen
President
Temple Beth Hillel
There are so many reasons why we feel grateful to have chosen Hazzan Shayndel to officiate our marriage. Not only did she work hard to tailor our wedding to meet our needs, but she helped us personalize the ceremony to include each of our own words. It was an added bonus that Shayndel was able to incorporate our guests into the ceremony. She had us choose seven honored friends and family in advance to read us blessings. The purpose was to be showered with blessings after we said 'I do'. It was so beautiful and really made us feel loved. What a great idea! As an interfaith couple, we appreciated how Shayndel was able to guide us to which Jewish rituals felt right. She educated us both on the sacred meaning of marrying under a chuppah and helped us pick out the most beautiful ketubah. Shayndel thought of everything which made this extremely important time of our lives such an easy and memorable process. Any couple who chooses Hazzan Shayndel as their officiant won't regret it! They will be held with joy, love and patience.
-Sandy & Aaron Kallotte
I have had the pleasure of working with Hazzan Shayndel on many occasions, including Shabbat services and community concerts. Shayndel has a soulful, ethereal voice that is transporting and I am always moved by her musical offerings. I value Shayndel's collaborative spirit; whenever we work together she is quick to share new melodies and teachings with me. She exhibits a strong work ethic and desire to grow professionally. She is well-liked by members of my congregation and has a great presence on the pulpit. Shayndel is a caring neshama and educator and her ability to lift people up is an asset that serves her well when performing acts of pastoral care.
-Cantor Ben Rosner
Mosaic Law Congregation
I had the pleasure of co-officiating high holiday services with Cantor Shayndel. The majority of our service planning took place long-distance. All through the preparation process, Shayndel was a pro- she listened to what I perceived to be the needs of the congregation and she made wonderful recommendations for appropriate traditional as well as contemporary high holiday music. She was a delight to work with and knows how to make suggestions that are very accommodating. She works with and not against; she doesn't bring an agenda or ego into her work, thus making it easy to have discussions about why a particular piece is preferable to another within a service. Aside from her easy-going manner and professionalism, Shayndel is one of the sweetest and most genuine people I have ever met. She is highly spiritual and conveys that feeling to others. She is friendly and extremely approachable, devoid of pretense. Any congregation that engages her services will be uplifted by her presence.
-Rabbi Ron Herstik St. Thomas Synagogue
Cantor Shayndel combines a beautiful voice with great kavana to deliver an inspiring worship experience. She is well-trained in prayer nusach and Hebrew and this comes through in her leading. She is warm, friendly and very approachable. Our congregation gave her its highest ratings for her high holiday leadership. I highly recommend her for any congregation that is looking for a meaningful, beautiful, spiritually inspiring service leader.
-Rabbi Richard B. Simon
Temple Har Zion
Upon meeting Hazzan Shayndel I knew I was among a special and gifted soul. Hazzan Shayndel is truly unique. Her gift is an expansive knowledge base within Judaism and spirituality and a remarkable ability to connect. Hazzan Shayndel will enlighten and educate while never wavering in her abundance of humility and kindness. Shayndel has touched our family, she has sparked a love of Judaism through song and music with my daughter. I'm forever grateful for having Hazzan Shayndel as part of our daughter's Bat Mitzvah, a memory that our family will hold dear forever.
-Heidi Schoen-Schwartz
I had the great pleasure of working with Cantor Shayndel Adler for three years in her capacity as cantor at Temple Beth Hillel. It was one of the most satisfying working partnerships of my rabbinic career.
Cantor Adler is a highly skilled and well-trained cantor. She has a beautiful singing voice and is skilled on multiple instruments. But much more importantly, Cantor Adler is a deeply spiritual person and brings her commitment to Jewish spirituality to everything she does. Her sacred music is beautiful because it is imbued, throughout, by her deep, thorough spiritual commitment. She continues to develop as a spiritual leader, both musically and Judaically through ongoing professional trainings. She is also a skilled teacher and her adult education classes on Jewish prayer and sacred music were extremely popular.
What impressed me most however were her fine personal qualities. She has a great sense of humor which made our work together a joy; a deep commitment to service, that is focusing on the needs of the congregation and then delivering them. I believe this is an expression of her humility. She is not a diva but a true spiritual leader.
I loved working with Cantor Adler and while I wish her well, I miss her. If you have the opportunity to work with her, don't hesitate!
-Rabbi Dean Kertesz
Shayndel's kindness and her love of song are intimately linked; when she opens her mouth to sing, it is not just beautiful sound emerging, but a caress of love and tenderness that is a balm to the soul in a very troubled world. I don't think you can hear Shayndel sing and not feel moved or calmed or just grateful for the kindness of Hashem having given you ears that can hear and appreciate and exalt in the glory of creation. Shayndel is a dedicated, hard-working, intelligent, consistent, caring and deeply committed individual. She is an advocate for tenderness and love wherever she goes. Shayndel sings songs of praise that uplift and shape the prayers and services of those in her presence. Her love of Holiness and her desire to serve join in her voice and in her offering of that voice. She loves to teach, work with people, to explore new possibilities and to link song, prayer and service to the Divine together.
-Nicole Barchilon Frank, Chair Hevra Kadisha, Lay Leader and High Holiday Coordinator
Dear Cantor Shayndel,
I just wanted to thank you for everything you did to help Nigel prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Nigel enjoyed working with you and you were great about breaking things down into stages. He never felt stressed out and I'm sure no small part of that was due to your organized approach to getting him ready.
-Hanna Gilberg Temple Beth Hillel Congregant and Bar Mitzvah Mom
Dear Cantor Shayndel,
I can't thank you enough for all the time, energy and care you put into preparing Dalia for her Bat Mitzvah. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you. The slides really added a nice touch too. So many people remarked about how beautiful your singing was and what sweet energy you brought to leading the service. We so appreciate you!
-Lauren Schiffman
Temple Beth Hillel congregant and Bat Mitzvah mom