More Event Details
Help us honor
Cantor Doug Cotler
recipient of the
L'dor Vador Award:
Passing Torah onto the Next Generation
Congregation Or Ami honors Cantor Doug Cotler with its second annual L’dor Vador Award: Passing Torah onto the Next Generation at our Or Ami One Celebration on March 17, 2018. As the founding clergy of Congregation Or Ami, it is especially momentous to honor our Cantor of 20-years as we celebrate our 20th Anniversary.
Doug Cotler is a Grammy Award-winning composer and an accomplished singer, songwriter and musician. His warm and expressive voice, his sensitive and penetrating interpretations of liturgy, as well as his insightful and humorous songs about Jewish events and heroes, have placed him in the forefront of contemporary Jewish music.
Rabbi Paul Kipnes explains, “Cantor Cotler’s personal blend of traditional Hebrew prayers with new lyrics and stirring music has brought inspiration, celebration and solace to generations of Jewish families. With signature songs such as Listen and Shoulders, Cantor Doug bestows the gifts of emotional connection and joy to all who hear them. His unique power has brought people closer to holiness and the Holy One, to Torah and tradition, and to Israel.”
Cantor Doug’s professional career began at 14, singing in Southern California synagogues and Jewish Community Centers. When his father passed away, he assumed his father’s position as Cantor at a large reform congregation in the Bay Area. Cantor Doug was also the musical producer of the Union for Reform Judaism’s National Biennial conventions for 14 years.
There is a teaching that says, “When words are spoken, we each hear the words according to our understanding. But in song, we are all united in a single pulse and a single melody.” So many have experienced uniquely poignant moments when Cantor Cotler’s music guided parents and grandparents to pass Judaism l’dor vador (from generation to generation) to their children. Doug and his wife, Gail, have raised two beautiful sons, Rabbi-Cantor Kyle and Noah. His spiritual parenting extends to tens of thousands who have received Torah and Judaism l’dor vador through his beautiful music, and will continue to do so for years to come.
CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR TRIBUTETributes due by March 3rd