Meet the Hebrew Union College Faculty Composers Shaping Jewish Music Today

Hebrew Union College Faculty Composers Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller ’87, Cantor Gerald Cohen, Cantor Jonathan Comisar ’00, and Elana Arian

At Hebrew Union College, sacred music is both a tradition and a living, evolving art form. We spoke with four of our distinguished faculty composers, Elana Arian, Cantor Gerald Cohen, Cantor Jonathan Comisar ’00, and Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller ’87, who are shaping Jewish music through composition, teaching, and performance. Each brings a unique voice and vision to their work, grounded in deep Jewish roots and inspired by the communities they serve. Explore their stories below and discover how their music inspires, connects, and elevates Jewish life today.

Elana Arian’s work offers a powerful reminder that sacred music, at its core, is a form of connection and care. Through her teaching, mentorship, and genre-spanning compositions—including her latest album, If We Loved Like That, and newly published, Elana Arian Anthology—Arian invites listeners and students alike to embrace music as a vehicle for healing, humanity, and belonging. Whether writing for soloists or community chorus, Arian creates with inclusive intention, striving to make space for every voice and story. As a faculty member, composer, and visible queer leader, Arian continues to shape the future of Jewish sacred music with honesty, compassion, and courage.

I really believe in a deep way that music has a unique direct pathway to the most core internal parts of us as people. The things that we are able to sing and participate in musically transcend language. It’s a unique force for connection and healing and community.

Read more about Elana Arian

Cantor Gerald Cohen lifts the curtain on the intricacies and intimacies of storytelling in his Faculty Composer Spotlight, where he shares the story behind his opera, Steal a Pencil for Me, which premiered in 2018 and is now available as a studio recording. Based on the true story of Jaap and Ina Polak, who fell in love while imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, the opera explores themes of love, resilience, and the “indestructibility of the life spirit.” Cohen—who personally knew Jaap and Ina —worked with librettist Deborah Brevoort to set their story to song, blending Jewish liturgical influences with musical storytelling. Drawing on his experience as a cantor and faculty member, Cohen discussed in his Spotlight how music can convey the emotional depth of history in ways that words alone cannot.

The Jewish music I sing is so much in my soul and my bones that it makes its way into all that I compose, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Through his work, Cantor Jonathan Comisar ’00 has helped shape the Jewish story in turbulent times with bold, genre-crossing compositions and inspiring mentorship. The 2025 recipient of the Dr. Jack Gottlieb Yovel Award, Comisar sees music as both sacred expression and artistic witness. Recent works include Chalom (Dream), a choral reflection on post-October 7 Israel, and To Bigotry No Sanction, a multilingual cantata inspired by George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Jews of Newport. Comisar’s teaching at Hebrew Union College encourages students to embrace their own cantorial vision and to “see the ocean beyond the waves,” while his compositions call on the Jewish people to confront hard truths, honor sacred texts, and dream forward.

We are living through a turbulent and consequential time as a Jewish people. I want to be an artistic witness to what is happening in our time.

Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller ’87, Professor Emerita of Cantorial Arts, has nurtured and inspired generations of Jewish leaders through her compositions and mentorship. As a longtime faculty member at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, Schiller has helped students find their authentic voices while emphasizing the spiritual depth of Jewish sacred music. As an emerita, she continues to teach, compose, and engage in interfaith musical collaboration, believing that music can “bridge divides and foster connection.” In her Spotlight, she reflected on her career, the transformative power of prayerful music, and her ongoing commitment to lifting sacred texts through song that is both meaningful and accessible.

“There’s nothing quite as satisfying as passing on what I’ve learned. The giants who taught me made themselves small enough to address me where I was, and they changed my life. Now, I hope to do the same for my students.”