TV and Temple: 2 Worlds Meet in Cantor’s Fulfilling Life

As television executive Gary Levine entered Ohr HaTorah Congregation’s sanctuary in West Los Angeles on a foggy Saturday morning, he adjusted the white prayer shawl wrapped loosely around his shoulders and placed his yarmulke on his head.

Facing the 300 assembled worshipers, the Tarzana resident opened his music folder, and his rich bass-baritone enveloped the auditorium. The congregation began swaying as it joined him in celebrating the Sabbath.

For the next few hours, Levine forgot about the scripts, development deals and pitch meetings that consume him as executive vice president of creative affairs at Warner Bros. in Burbank.

“When I’m in temple, I can let go of what I do during the week and can have a meaningful spiritual experience,” the 44-year-old opera-trained singer said. “When all the voices of the congregation pour into me, it opens me up even deeper. It’s a spiritual duet that’s both exhilarating and exhausting.”

Representatives of cantors associations estimated that, among Los Angeles area temples, there are fewer than 20 lay soloists like Levine who are not professionally trained cantors but serve regularly. They said many others may serve as lay cantors occasionally.

During Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur additional lay cantors are hired temporarily at the larger synagogues to accommodate the increased numbers of congregants.

Levine, a volunteer cantor, has scant time to prepare for his temple duties because of the demands of his job. Two days after singing at the Sabbath services, he interrupted a string of meetings to sit in on a rehearsal for a new sitcom, “The Brian Benben Show,” one of 21 productions he oversees.

Because of a schedule that begins at dawn and often brings him home to his wife, Maxine, a psychotherapist, and two daughters, Sylvie, 15, and Deena, 12, at 10 p.m., Levine first turned down his temple’s request three years ago that he be one of its three lay cantors.

Meirav Finley, Ohr HaTorah’s music coordinator and executive director, said that among the reasons she and her husband, Rabbi Mordecai Finley, decided to seek out talent from the congregation was that the fledgling temple couldn’t afford to keep its professional cantor.

“I heard this tremendous voice and knew he had to do it,” she said. “Gary has talent, but more importantly, he has soul.”

Three days after Levine agreed to be a cantor, she announced that he would be chanting at Yom Kippur. He had five months to learn the long and difficult liturgy.

“I studied the material before work, at lunch, between meetings and on weekends,” Levine said. “The first time I stood before the congregation was an incredible experience for me.”

Those whose professional and religious lives intertwine with Levine’s were initially surprised at his dual talents.

“I literally fell out of my chair the first time I heard him,” said Tony Jonas, president of Warner Bros. Television. “Most people in Hollywood walk around wondering if they’re doing something important. I believe Gary’s answered that question.”

David Nevins, an NBC executive and Ohr HaTorah member, said Levine’s singing is as good as any professional’s.

Levine studied voice with one of the New York City Opera’s leading baritones, David Clatworthy, while a student at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Levine’s 1976 graduation with a master’s of business administration in arts management coincided with his singing the title role in “The Marriage of Figaro” in a university/Tri-Cities Opera production in New York.

Deciding he didn’t want to stake his livelihood on his throat, he chose not to pursue an opera career. Instead, he produced live theater in New York before coming to Hollywood in 1985.

Each aspect of Levine’s life helps make the others more fulfilling. “No one is just one thing,” he said. “We all have jobs, family, hobbies and passions. They coexist and they make up a life. That’s what I hope I have done.”