CANTOR HARRIS SHORE most recently served as Hazzan for Hollywood Temple Beth El in West Hollywood, and for two years at the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda after his graduation from the Academy for Jewish Religion CA where he was ordained as Hazzan and Teacher. It is his passion to elevate the worship experience and to heal through music, as David (Sweet singer of Israel) healed Saul (I Samuel 16:14-23). And we read in the words of the great Haazinu (Deuteronomy 31:19), that G-d meant for Moses and all future spiritual leaders of the Jewish people to put the word of Torah into the mouths of the Children of Israel through the beauty and power of song.
Cantor Shore was called to the cantorate after a varied career as actor, singer, teacher, columnist and business professional. Following a successful sales career with Dun & Bradstreet in Philadelphia, he moved to New York where he soon began working in theater, most notably as Harry S. Truman in the musical “The Buck Stops Here,” later recreating the role of Harry for the dramatic television series “The Korean War.” Other TV credits include Seinfeld, ER, Bones, Chicago Hope and Weeds. He also received the Drama-Logue Award for “Lead Actor in a Musical” for the show “My Lady Vaudeville.” He has performed as a solo artist in concerts and nightclubs, and on ships throughout the world.
While committed to his winding career path, Cantor Shore has demonstrated an equal commitment to community service and the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World). In that regard, he has served as a Jewish Big Brother, organized Blood Drives, and participated in Camp Harmony which benefits children living in homeless shelters throughout Los Angeles County. His work with children also includes serving as cantorial intern and teacher in the Religious School of Kehillat Israel, a Reconstructionist Congregation in Pacific Palisades, CA. For eight years he also served as Certified Water Safety Instructor, acting coach and B’nai Mitzvah tutor at Harand Camp for the Performing Arts now in their 57th year in the Midwest.
Since arriving in Los Angeles in 1992, Cantor Shore developed his hobby of repairing and restoring old houses, and currently lives in an old Craftsman home built in 1913. The cantor believes Tikkun Olam starts at home, and he is very excited about sharing his “Do-It-Yourself” experience in this new column, “The Handy Hazzan,” and learning from his readers as well. In these turbulent economic times, Cantor Shore urges you to write to him with your own questions and answers about how to fix anything from sewing a button to building a bookshelf, rewiring a lamp to replacing a faucet … or learning how you don’t really have to replace the whole faucet!… and so much more. We’ll be adding links, photos and videos as we learn together … in Do-It Yourselfer Havruta. Welcome to “The Handy Hazzan!”
