Rabbi Morton Leifman, longtime dean of JTS cantors’ school, dies at 89

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JTA – Rabbi Morton Leifman, who oversaw the training of Conservative movement cantors for decades, has died.

Leifman, a former vice president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and longtime dean of its Cantors Institute, now called the H.L. Miller Cantorial School, died May 5 in Rockville, Maryland. 

A Minneapolis native, Leifman began his five decade career at JTS in 1959, becoming dean of students of the Teachers Institute and director of the Joint Bet Din. He became the dean of the Cantors Institute-Seminary College of Jewish Music in 1973, and while serving as dean was named senior vice president under Chancellor Gerson Cohen. In the 1980s he was named a vice-chancellor at JTS, the title he held at the time of his retirement. 

The chancellor and board chair of JTS, Arnold Eisen and Alan Levine, respectively, called Leifman “a gifted teacher, a valued colleague, and a wise leader.”

In recognition of his years of service, the seminary awarded Leifman an honorary doctorate in 1977.

Leifman was an established baal tefillah, prayer leader, by age 15. He graduated from New York University in 1950 and was ordained by JTS in 1951, working for Heschel and Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, a co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, during his student years.

Leifman is survived by his wife of 54 years, Vera; four children; eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.