After 26 years of service to the congregation, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck said farewell to Cantor Lisa Hest.
Cantor Hest joined the clergy at Temple Beth-El in 1990, bringing her beautiful music to the congregation and the Great Neck community. She has sung in all the major concert halls in the New York metropolitan area, has gone on tour in Israel and has been heard in radio programs on WQXR in New York and WXTM in Chicago. She has also recorded music for children and especially enjoys creating holiday plays for young people.
The cantor holds a master’s in sacred music from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. An honors graduate of Queens College, she also studied opera at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. In her role at Temple Beth-El, Cantor Hest brought together all the musical strands in her life. Her love of choral and solo singing, teaching children and writing songs, along with her love of Judaism, enabled her to fill the temple with a vast array of music.
Cantor Hest’s beautiful voice inspired worship on the High Holidays and throughout the 26 years. Many Great Neck children have sung with Cantor Hest in Beth-El’s junior choir or participated in her creative and engaging Hanukkah plays and Purim shpiels, which she authored and directed each year. She shared her love of music with the community through programs on Yiddish, Ladino, Israeli and Jewish Broadway composers.
