We welcome you to the new Cantors Perlman website. From left to right are the mother, Muriel (z"l}, the brothers Rabbi Eli, Rabbi Richard, Cantor Josh, Hazzan Manny, and the father, Hazzan Ivan (z"l).
RABBI Eli B. PERLMAN is the Rabbi of Beth Am Shalom in Lakewood, NJ. Prior to that, he was the rabbi of Temple Micah in Lawrenceville. Both Beth Am Shalom and Temple Micah are Reform Congregations.
Rabbi Eli has also served as spiritual leader to Congregation Beit Shalom in Monroe Township, NJ, since 1995. This is a Conservative congregation of retired senior citizens, all of whom came from other congregations in the New York / New Jersey area to retire in the town’s adult communities. This is a fascinating congregation that is made up of Jews from every movement. Rabbi Perlman has had to come up with ways to satisfy all the various perspectives.
Coming from a family of Hazzanim, Rabbi Perlman concertized with the Cantors Perlman throughout the United States and Israel. Prior to coming to NJ, Rabbi Perlman served Temple Beth El, Rochester, NY, and Temple Israel in Manchester, NH. He has presented Divrei Torah and lectures on Jewish subjects in many venues in the United States, Israel, and as far away as Belgium and Australia. He has also conducted several Shabbat Services on several Norwegian cruises leaving from the Port of NYC and Miami.
Rabbi Perlman is a Vice President of the Vaad HaRabbanim (Board of Rabbis) of America, a Life Associate Member of Hadassah, and a Life Member of the Jewish War Veterans. One of the highlights of Rabbi Perlman’s life was his participation in the formal dedication of the Arlington National Cemetery’s Jewish Chaplains Memorial in 2013.
Since 1976, Rabbi Perlman’s secular focus has been in information systems, with a specialty in health sciences informatics. Rabbi Perlman has been called upon to testify before US Congress as well as large healthcare corporations and departments of health throughout North America, Europe, and Israel. More recently, Rabbi Perlman has been advising boards of directors of cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and blockchain startups.
Throughout the years, Rabbi Perlman’s expertise and reputation have been called upon to share his unique points of view that are solidly based on his strong belief in Tanach, Talmud, and the vast compendium of the teachings of Judaism. It is the richness and sweetness of the teachings of Judaism that motivates and drives how he lives his everyday life.
Eli and his wife, Lynne, have grown children and four grandchildren.
HAZZAN EMANUEL C. PERLMAN is the Founder & CEO, Destination Peace International | Peace Activist & Cultural Diplomat | International Correspondent | Clergy Emeritus & Psychiatric Social Worker
Emanuel Perlman is a lyric tenor, composer, lecturer, recording artist, therapist, cleric, and ambassador for world peace. He has showcased his talent with musical concerts throughout the world.
Emanuel earned a bachelor's degree in music and voice from Rhode Island College and a master's degree in psychiatric social work from Yeshiva University. He also attended the Cantors Institute at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He received a doctorate in music honoris causa, from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Emanuel has completed advanced studies at Oxford University Said Business School’s Executive Leadership Program, Oxford University Department of Continuing Education course on Effective Leadership through Emotional Intelligence, Harvard University Business School’s Sustainable Business Strategy, Cambridge Institute for Continuing Education in International Studies including Challenges to the Global Order, International Human Rights: War, Conflict and the Responsibility to Protect, The Psychology and Neuroeconomics of Decision Making, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Geneva based Human Rights Council Certificate Training Program and most recently the United Nation's Immersion Programs held in the Hague and Geneva.
He is the founder and CEO of Destination Peace International Inc. (Destinationpeace.org) The organization's mission is to create harmony throughout the world using the universal language of music and a peace curriculum to transcend differences in religious affiliation and in culture to resolve conflict and bring people together.
Emanuel co-created the Construct Institute. The latter is a think tank, composed of an interdisciplinary group of distinguished professionals (including physicians, educators, philosophers, authors, mathematicians, neuroscientists, clergy, and entertainers) whose common focus is to improve the wellbeing of present and future generations.
In 2006, Emanuel lectured on the Aleppo Codex at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. In February 2007 and in February 2009, he sang for the Jewish communities throughout Cuba.
In 2010, Emanuel performed an original show entitled “A life of coincidences” at the Players Club in New York City. Also in 2010, he sang at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for the National Day of Remembrance ceremony sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Later that year, he performed in a concert held at the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the United States.
Two of the highlights of Emanuel C. Perlman’s half century career took place in 2013. These were performances with his oldest brother, Rabbi/Cantor Eli Perlman, to dedicate America’s first Jewish chaplain's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and to achieve an inter-religious concert at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
Emanuel has performed lectures and concerts (2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022) in Vicars Hall in Windsor Castle. He was a featured artist in Liverpool, England at St. George's Hall. Additionally, he has performed at the United Nations.
In recognition for Emanuel’s public service to his home community of Pikesville, Maryland, he was presented with their volunteer of the year award.
On June 3, 2018, Emanuel was honored with a concert to mark his retirement and conferred with the title Hazzan Emeritus from the congregation in Baltimore that he served for more than two decades. The concert, entitled "Peter, Paul, and Manny" featured legendary Peter Yarrow and a video tribute by Paul Stookey.
In addition to civic, musical, and clerical activities, Emanuel functioned as a psychiatric social worker, field instructor, social work supervisor, and team coordinator at the Long Island Jewish Hillside Hospital in Queens, N.Y.
Emanuel Perlman served on the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards (CJLS) from 2009-2014 and the Advisory Board of the UCSD Social Impact and Innovation.
Emanuel has four recordings including Generations: Father and Son, Face to Face, Spiritual Ambrosia (Arabesque, NYC) and Destination Peace (Cala-Signum Records, Britain).
Perlman has been married to Janice Jotkowitz for 49 years, an accomplished educator and former consultant with the Maryland State Department of Education specializing in special needs advocacy. Together, they are the proud parents of Steven, Benjamin (Bethany), and Marc, and five grandchildren.
RABBI/HAZZAN Richard E. Perlman was appointed as the Rabbi /Spiritual Leader of Temple Ner Tamid, Peabody Massachusetts on September 1, 2016. Rabbi Perlman founded West Bay Community Jewish Center, in Rhode Island, to fill the needs of the traditional conservative Jewish population of Rhode Island's West Bay. Prior to this, Rabbi Perlman held the pulpit and served as the Spiritual Leader, Hazzan, Director of Education and Executive Director at Temple Am David, a United Synagogue Affiliate, in Warwick Rhode Island, for 15 years.
Rabbi Perlman received his rabbinic ordination in January 2012 and is the Vice President of the Vaad HaRabbonim D’America, (the American Board of Rabbis). Rabbi Perlman received his Yoreh Yoreh S’micha (Rabbinic Ordination), and also earned a T’udat Mashgiach (Kashrut Supervisor Certification) from the Vaad.
Rabbi Perlman, also a Cantor (Hazzan), has been a soloist and a member of duets, quartets, and quintets including “The Cantors Perlman” in several cantorial concerts and worship services throughout the United States and Israel. He has led services at Congregation Beth Israel in Bath, Maine and at Temple Beth David in Narragansett, Rhode Island. He taught Jewish studies in the South County Hebrew School and has been a visiting lecturer at many senior social organizations. Rabbi Perlman served as a Judaism lecturer at University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, The New England Technical Institute, LaSalle Academy as well as many various other institutions of learning around the state of Rhode Island. Furthermore, Rabbi Perlman has been instrumental in planning and leading numerous highly respected and well attended interfaith services with neighboring faith communities.
Rabbi Perlman serves on the faculty of the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Seniors Agency of Rhode Island, served as the treasurer of the agency and is a member of the Touro Fraternal Association as well as The Board of Rabbis of Greater RI. He serves as the Mashgiach liaison for the Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living.
He served for over five years as Chairman of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Rhode Island’s Principals Council. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Bureau of Jewish Education, the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial Museum and the JCC of Rhode Island.
Rabbi Richard Perlman and his wife, Kit, are the parents of Jessica, Michael, Owen and Kristina, and grandparents of Brady, Bryce, and Ezra.
CANTOR JOSH PERLMAN has been the Cantor at B’nai Israel Congregation in Rockville, Maryland since February 2001, after serving in Albuquerque, New Mexico for ten years. Cantor Josh studied at Rhode Island College in Providence and later with his father, Hazzan Ivan Perlman, in preparation for becoming a Hazzan of the Cantors Assembly.
During his years as a Hazzan, Josh has performed in concerts around the United States, and Israel. He also led services and performed in concert tour with his father in Norway, Finland and Sweden for Keren Hayesod. His performances have benefitted various communities, supported growing congregations, and raised funds for organizations dedicated to Tikun Olam. Josh is often a guest of public and private schools, educating youth about Judaism. He is actively involved with the elderly in the community, and continues to conduct services for them regularly. His connection with the youth through his “Mitzvah Program” continues to grow as well as the “Mitzvah Bank”, a collection of hundreds of Mitzvah projects locally and globally. Cantor Josh is involved with the Keneset Israel program, a group of Ma-kom communities who have embarked on several initiatives to re-envision our connection to Israel with the synagogue as the natural place to deepen that relationship.
Cantor Josh is a member of the Executive Committee of the Cantors Assembly and the ethics committee. He also serves as the chairperson for fundraising.
Josh and his wife Sherri (whose father was also a Cantor) have two children and live in Germantown.