Morton Shanok Papers

Morton Shanok was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1910. He graduated from New Haven High School in 1927 and apprenticed under Cantor Adolph Katchko in New York. His first position as cantor was at Temple Beth-El in Rockaway Park, New York, but four years into his tenure, he was drafted into the United States Army. He served as assistant army chaplain during World War II and was instrumental in organizing a safe refuge for Jewish orphans in France. After the war, the orphans were brought to Israel by the Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC).

Cantor Shanok was discharged from the Army in 1945, and he attended the Manhattan School of Music to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in music. After he graduated, Cantor Shanok and his wife, Beatrice Cohen Shanok, moved to Massachusetts, where he was elected cantor of Temple Beth El in Lynn (later Swampscott). He held this position for thirty-two years.

While at Temple Beth El, Cantor Shanok organized a professional choral society at the synagogue, which often performed with accompaniment by the North Shore Philharmonic. He also founded one of the North Shore’s first youth choirs. He tutored hundreds of bar and bat mitzvah students, and in his later years, this included the children of those he had tutored in the past.

Cantor Shanok retired from Temple Beth El in 1980, and a tribute was held by the congregation to honor his contribution to their lives. He then served as High Holiday Cantor at Temple B’nai Abraham in Beverly for six years before becoming the Religious Cultural Coordinator at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for Aged in Swampscott. He was named Person of the Year at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for Aged in 1990.

While at Temple Beth El, Cantor Shanok also helped change the course of the cantorial profession. He was a founding member of the Cantors Assembly of the National Association of Conservative Cantors and served on the Executive Board. He was also one of the cantors who wrote the curriculum for the H.L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary. He later received an Honorary Doctorate from the College for his contributions to the profession.

Cantor Shanok died in 2006. He was preceded by his first wife, Beatrice, who died in 1965, and by his second wife, Dorothy Rose Shanok, who died in 2001.

1910

Morton Shanok is born.

1927

Graduates from New Haven High School.

1938

Elected Cantor of Temple Beth-El in Rockaway Park, New York.

1942

Drafted into the Army.

1945

Discharged from the Army.

1948

Elected Cantor of Temple Beth El in Lynn, Massachusetts.

1965

Beatrice Shanok dies.

1970

Morton Shanok marries Dorothy Rose.

1980

Retires from Temple Beth El.

circa 1989

Becomes Religious Cultural Coordinator at Jewish Rehabilitation Center for Aged.

2001

Dorothy Shanok dies.

2006

Morton Shanok dies.