Norman’s Cantorial Profile

Cantor Norman P. Swerling came to the cantorate after having been active in the theater. He studied Theater Arts at Boston College and Tufts University and has a long list of theatrical credits in Repertory, Off Broadway, Radio and Television productions.

After a tour of duty as a chaplain's assistant with the army during the Korean conflict, he decided to find a way of combining his artistic drive and talents with a career which would enable him to express himself Jewishly. At this time he was working as a fund-raiser for the U.J.A. and Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. Living at the 92nd St. YM & YWHA, he was director of religious affairs for the Residents Association. He enrolled in the H.U.C.S.S.M. and was graduated from that institution in 1960.

Cantor Swerling has served as Cantor, Education and Youth Director at the following synagogues:

Temple B'nai Israel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Cong. Mikve Israel-Emanuel, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
Community Synagogue, Rye, N.Y.
North Shore Synagogue, Syosset, N.Y.
Beth Shalom Cong., Wilmington, DE

He has served as High Holydays Cantor at:

Freeport Hebrew Cong., Freeport, Bahamas
Falmouth Jewish Cong., Falmouth, MA
The Synagogue Barbados, West Indies

From 1968 through 1974 Cantor Swerling held key faculty positions at the U.A.H.C. Kutz Camp-Institute in Warwick, N.Y. During this period he also participated regularly as an instructor in Jewish Cultural Arts for the Brookdale "Add Life to Years" program in Forest Hills, N.Y. He also served for one semester as a substitute instructor in Jewish Music Education at the HUCSSM.

In 1975 he was appointed director of the UAHC Eisner Camp-Institute in Gt. Barrington, MA. This position also entailed supervisory responsibility for the Youth Programs of the New York Federation of Reform Synagogues. Cantor Swerling served in this position until 1985 when he became temporary director of New Congregations for the S.E. Region of the U.A.H.C. He then served as cantor for the Beth Shalom Congregation of Wilmington, DE.

In 1969 Cantor Serling developed a program called, “The World of the Shtetl,” a One-Man-Jewish-Music-Theater-Happening. He has travelled extensively with this program as with it's sequel, “To a New and Goodly Land.” He has also appeared in many communities as a performer and lecturer on Jewish Cultural Arts.

Among his many articles and essays are:

“Judaism and the Theater”, The Reconstructionist, 1967
“Teaching Jewish Values in a Summer Camp”, Pedagogic Reporter, 1985

He had engaged in the writing of a novel concerning the Sephardic Jews of Holland and the West Indies.

Family:

Cantor Swerling married the former Naomi Miller. There are two children, Danielle Einsohn who is pursuing a career in Jewish Education in Florida and Jeremy who, in 1987, received a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Indiana University. And, of course, let's not forget Goldie.