Remembering
Cantor Sandra Sherry-Pilatsky (z''l)
Your talent is your gift from God. What you do with it is your gift to God.
Cantor Emerita Sandra Sherry-Pilatsky served Temple Beth El for a quarter of a century. She led us in our religious services, directed our junior and senior choirs, and trained over 1000 students for bar and bat mitzvah over those years. She was an original member and a driving force behind our Chutzpah Repertory Theater group. She sang for us, she cared for us, and she helped us grow, spiritually and creatively, individually and as a community. She was "the musical heart and spirit of Temple Beth El." (J. Clopper)
We lost our beloved Sandy this past February.
Sandy was born and bred in Brighton Beach, and graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.S. in education. She became an elementary school teacher, with a most notable stint at a Navajo Reservation in Arizona.
As a choir-member at Temple Beth El in Great Neck, Sandy was mentored by Barbara Ostfeld, the first ordained Reform woman cantor. "She used her voice to make the words come alive," said Ostfeld. Sandy attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan and was subsequently ordained as a cantor. "Her personal gifts and her vocal gifts made her a standout in the congregation."
At Temple Beth El of Huntington (that's our TBE), Sandy was an educator as well as a cantor, initiating childhood education programs, getting the kids interested in Jewish stuff. She also was a member of the Long Island Cantors Ensemble, where she met Cantor Rich Pilatsky. They fell in love and married in 1993.
Sandy also served on the boards of the American Conference of Cantors and the Long Island Cantors Association, and was active in the Suffolk Association of Jewish Educational Services.
Sandy and Rich moved down to Boca Raton after their retirements. She is survived by her sons David, Jason and Adam, and Rich's son Chad, and seven grandchildren.
We miss her dearly. May her memory be for a blessing.
Credit: Bart Jones and Newsday
One of the unique things about Sandy was her ability to nurture students according to their understanding and ability. Sandy was able to build their confidence and to help them to become competent on the bima. She always believed and told her students that their talent was a gift from God and what they did with it was their gift back. And she saw that potential in every child. When Jeff Clopper came in 2003, the three of us became a team that was unheard of on LI. We collaborated on everything from temple-wide holiday programs to school and nursery programs to adult education to Confirmation. It was thrilling and rewarding and we had a great time! Jeff was right when he called her the musical heart of the temple. She will always be remembered for her joy, kindness, creativity, dedication and love of TBE. I will miss her as long as I live. -Diane Berg Milioto
A message from Rich Pilatsky...
It’s unusual for a cantor to serve one congregation for the entirety of his/her career. Sandy could lay claim to that rare achievement. The question most frequently asked is how did she accomplish that. I have some answers.
Sandy devoted her life to Temple Beth El. She was not just TBE’s cantor, but an innovator, educator, forward-looking implementer of programs designed to bring new families to the congregation and enhance the reputation of TBE. She was a firm believer in family education, and brought, among other programs, Bagels, Blocks and Beyond, sponsored by SAJES, to the temple. She brought other family education programs to the temple as well.
Sandy was always looking for ways to make TBE a better place. With her background in musical theater, she hatched the idea of doing a show with the goal of not only raising money for the temple, but getting temple members more engaged in temple life. She gathered a great team and put on her first show, Fiddler On The Roof. It starred many people who, at that time, were unengaged members of the temple. Thus was born the Chutzpah Repertory Theater. Not only has it continued for all these years, but the people in the show, whether actors, musicians, stage hands, or production people, became leaders of the temple. What a legacy!
She did so many other small things that went unnoticed. For instance, she realized that the Ark needed curtains behinds the beautiful doors. She bought the fabric, made the curtains at home, and installed them in the Ark. Her handiwork is still on display. There were so many more “little” things. She was instrumental in raising the funds to procure a new organ for the sanctuary. I dare say there is not a corner of the temple you could find that does not have Sandy’s hands somewhere embedded in it.
She was not just the cantor at TBE, she was the heart and soul of the temple. She cared deeply for its members. She laughed and cried with them. She celebrated and mourned with them. The tributes that came pouring in after her death are a testament to the love she had for TBE and the love everyone had for her. She, truly, made the most of her years!
That’s how she managed to remain in one temple for the entirety of her career.
As appeared in Newsday, March 1...
