Debra Winter

Songleading Mentor

Debra Winter is a prayer leader, educator and musician who has been serving Jewish communities throughout North America for almost two decades. While spending school years as a classically trained student in music education and vocal performance, it was Deb’s summers spent at camp that truly ignited her passion for this work and the power of Jewish communal music in bringing people together. Through her work with summer camp programs from Warwick, NY to Angelus Oaks, CA; High Holy Day pulpits from Washington, DC to Honolulu, HI; and year-round gatherings in the Reform, Conservative, and Pluralistic Jewish movements; she has gained a wide repertoire and a unique sensitivity to each community’s practices and needs. Deb has been a featured songleader for both USY and BBYO’s International Conventions, Music Director of NFTY Convention, Associate Music Director of the URJ Biennial, and has served on the teaching faculty for NFTY Nashir, LEV: Lift Every Voice, and Hava Nashira songleading conferences. After four years serving the thoughtful and engaged community of Temple Micah in Washington, DC as their Director of Spiritual Arts, Deb is returning to freelance work and has been traveling nationwide with her 5-year-old rescue pup, Frisco.

Cantor Rosalie Will

Songleading Mentor

Cantor Rosalie Will is the first cantor in the long history of the renowned Chicago Sinai Congregation. She brings more than 25 years of experience in training songleaders, leading worship, and creating joyful singing communities. Following 16 years with Temple Emanuel in Kensington, MD, she consulted with congregations on issues of worship, music, and synagogue transition, traveled extensively in congregational residencies, and coached clergy in the field. Cantor Will is founder, former Executive Director, and current Program Director of Sing Unto God, a non-profit dedicated to elevating the practice and impact of communal singing, and the producing organization for Hava Nashira, the seminal songleader conference founded by Debbie Friedman z”l and Cantor Jeff Kepper in 1992. She has produced or co-produced numerous events which lead the cutting edge of worship and music thinking, including four Biennials for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and continues to support the URJ on issues of worship and music. Cantor Will is the author of a narrative trade book with Transcontinental Music Publishing entitled Songleading: A Work of Art. Rosalie was ordained from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of HUC-JIR in New York, and served as Vice-President for Member Relations of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC). She is a product of URJ Camps and NFTY, and received her undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alan Goodis

Songleading Mentor

Alan Goodis has been a leading voice in contemporary Jewish music for more than a decade. Noted for his dedication to building community through music, Alan travels throughout North America as a performer, worship leader and informal Jewish educator. Alan‘s music is sung at camps and congregations from coast to coast. He lives in Chicago with his wife Codi and their daughters Noa and Maya. To learn more about Alan and to hear his music visit www.alangoodis.com.