About Amelia Lavranchuk
Amelia Lavranchuk believes that each person has their own unique piece of Torah to bring to the world. She strives to make sure that every voice in the community is heard. Amelia was ordained as a Cantor and received a Master of Religious Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2020. Currently, she is the music educator at East End Temple, where she teaches students of all ages and leads youth and family services. Amelia previously served as the student cantor at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, NJ and at Garden City Jewish Center in Garden City, NY. In addition, Amelia spent a summer as a chaplain intern at Mount Sinai Hospital and was a T'ruah Summer Fellow in Human Rights Leadership. Before studying to become a cantor, Amelia taught elementary school in New York City.
Listen
Senior Recital, Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, HUC-JIR
November 26, 2019
Hert Undzer Kol!
Hear Our Voice!
Learn
Adult Education Courses
Oy Gevalt! Essential Yiddish
Want to spice up your distance socializing with some choice words and phrases from the mame loshn (mother tongue)? Join in exploring the wonderful world of Yiddish! Learn the fundamentals of reading, essential vocabulary, and a special surprise to share with your family. All are welcome, no prior knowledge of Yiddish necessary.
Sci-Fi and the Rabbis
Spaceships, alien invasions, time travel, and robots: the classic tropes of the genre of science fiction. But what does any of that have to do with Jewish text? The creators of science fiction stories use science and technology as a lens to examine fundamental questions about what it means to be human. The tech may be futuristic, but the ideas are ancient. In this class, we will unpack a few of the most prevalent sci-fi themes, and explore how they are discussed in Jewish texts.
Curricula
Becoming B'nai Mitzvah
Master of Religious Education Capstone, HUC-JIR 2020. A sixth grade curriculum for congregational schools, designed to guide and support sixth-grade religious school students in formulating a personally meaningful understanding of the upcoming lifecycle milestone of b. mitzvah. The curriculum outlines a group learning component of a congregational b. mitzvah preparation program, intended to complement and deepen individual training focused on the successful performance of the b. mitzvah ritual.
Religious School Music Curriculum
Curricular outline for a religious school music program, grades K-7.
Resonance: Questions of Today through Songs of the Shoah
This mini curriculum is intended for a group of adults in a Jewish setting. It was designed as an adult education series for the weeks leading up to Yom HaShoah in a congregational setting. It is also suitable for use in Hillel groups or as an elective opportunity for high school juniors and seniors.Each lesson explores a major area in which memory of the Holocaust intersects with modern Jewish identity: testimony, power and legacy and is structured around a song that is connected to the Holocaust.
Scholarship
Hert Undzer Kol! Hear Our Voice: Songs of Revolutionary Jewish Socialism
Senior project, Master of Sacred Music and Cantorial Ordination, HUC-JIR, 2020. As they navigated a volatile, rapidly shifting social and political landscape, participants in the Jewish socialist movement endeavored to formulate a concept of Jewish identity that would speak to their particular circumstances and challenges. The purpose of this repertoire guide is to make the songs of the revolutionary Jewish socialist movement more accessible to clergy, educators and community leaders for use in teaching, worship and community programming.
Leonard Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony: Jewish Content and Connotations
Term paper for American Judaism, Brandeis University, 2011. Submitted to the American Jewish Archives by Jonathan Sarna. Musical and historical Analysis of Leonard Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony.