Cantor Beth Garden is completing her 12th year as Cantor and B’nai Mitzvah Program Director at CTJ. She enjoys working closely with B’nai Mitzvah students and their families, leading services, empowering lay leaders of all ages to read Torah and lead prayers, and collaborating with colleagues to offer creative educational and musical programs that drive Jewish connection.  Cantor Beth began her career as a classical flutist but was drawn to Jewish communal life through what she first perceived as a “side hustle” to stay involved in her synagogue while raising her two children, Alexandra and Myles. Through the good fortune of meeting a female Cantor for the first time at the age of 29, the idea of actually becoming one was born, thus the truth in the adage; how can you be one if you can’t see one? While working as a Cantorial Soloist and B’nai Mitzvah Tutor in the ensuing years, Beth also began working toward her goal of becoming an “official” Cantor with the help and support of her colleagues. This goal was achieved in 2006 when she became a Certified Cantor through Hebrew Union College, School of Sacred Music.

Cantor Beth finds great spiritual fulfillment working with vocal and instrumental music volunteers to enhance religious services and share eclectic musical styles throughout the Jewish calendar year, leading Religious School t’filah, working one-on-one with B’nai Mitzvah students, and even creating monthly yoga field trips for her congregants.  These activities support her conviction that almost every experience we have can be a Jewish one.  

Outside of congregational work, she can be found spending time with her husband, Arthur and their four grandchildren, cooking big family dinners, traveling, practicing Yoga (and hand-balancing) for sanity, studying Modern Hebrew and shopping for shoes. She is a nine-year breast cancer survivor and Ashkenazi mutation carrier, and serves as a peer advisor for Sharsheret, an organization that supports the Jewish Breast and Ovarian Cancer Community.