GERBER, MAYNARD

GERBER, MAYNARD (1947– ), cantor. Gerber was born in Chicago where he studied at a talmud torah as a child, then at the Hebrew High School of the Chicago Board of Jewish Education, and De Paul University. He attended the cantorial school of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and trained as a mohel (ritual circumciser) in Jerusalem. From 1971 he was a cantor, serving communities in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Since 1975 (except for a two-year stint as the cantor of Kol Ami congregation in Salt Lake City) he has been the chief cantor of the Jewish Community of Stockholm, Sweden, continuing the tenure of the ḥazzan-composer Leo Rosenbluth. Gerber also appears on radio and television and was one of the first cantors to perform behind the Iron Curtain; in January 1986 he led services in the Great Synagogue in Moscow and in 1988 officiated at prayers in Leningrad. Gerber appeared on Russian television in September 1989 and was also in Tallinn, Estonia conducting services. He has written articles on cantorial and Jewish music and has produced cassettes for use in religious schools. He is a member of the American Cantors Assembly. (Akiva Zimmerman)