From stewardess to cantor

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Lorna Lembeck grew up in a family of secular Christians, but was drawn to the Jewish faith since she was a young girl. She will be ordained a cantor on Monday.

Lorna Lembeck was a perky blonde youngster in Whittier, California, growing up in a family of secular Christians, but was drawn to her friend’s faith while accompanying her to Hebrew classes.

By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times

Only in Hollywood can you go from being a Christian singing stewardess to a cantor for a Jewish temple whose mission is so expansive, its congregation is unbounded by any particular synagogue wall.

Malibu resident Lorna Lembeck, a self-described Jew by choice, will be ordained on Monday as a cantor by the Academy for Jewish Religion, California. A cantorial intern and High Holy Day soloist for the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue (MJCS), Lembeck’s long journey toward embracing the Jewish religion started years ago when she was a perky blonde youngster in Whittier, California, growing up in a family of secular Christians.

“Religion was not a big thing when I was a kid,” Lembeck said in an interview with The Malibu Times. “Christmas and the Fourth of July had about the same spiritual impact.”

Lembeck said she spent more time in a synagogue than in a church, accompanying a friend to her Hebrew classes, and felt a kinship with the Jewish faith that she could not explain. “When I was about 11, I went home and asked my mom if I could be Jewish,” Lembeck recalled. “Well, there were maybe a dozen Jews living in all of Whittier at that time. My mom just thought I was adorable and promptly enrolled me in vacation Bible school, which was very confusing to me. I kept asking questions that my teacher found irritating. I didn’t realize until later in life that’s the nature of being Jewish. You can put five Jews in a room and you’ll end up with six different opinions.”

Maternal disapproval notwithstanding, Lembeck’s attraction to the synagogue persisted, with the language sounding at the same time mysterious and somehow familiar. The Judaic philosophy of tikkun olam, or “perfecting the world” through good works, resonated.

But adult life and career beckoned and Lembeck, as Lorna Patterson, became a popular actress and singer on Broadway, where she met her husband, actor and director Michael Lembeck. She moved to Los Angeles and worked in television and film, playing the singing stewardess in the movie “Airplane!” and the title role in the television adaptation of Goldie Hawn’s movie “Private Benjamin.”

Though it all, she continued her singing career, winning a Robby Award for her performance in the L.A. production of “On the 20th Century.”

It wasn’t until her son Sam’s bar mitzvah that she realized her and her husband’s decision to raise their children co-religiously was not serving anyone’s spiritual needs. “We said we’d give our children everything, but ended up giving them nothing,” Lembeck said. “When Sam started studying for his bar mitzvah, I began studies too and, eventually, my daughter Mimi and I converted.”

The pull to renewed faith drew in Michael, who now plays guitar for his wife’s services. Mimi ended up earning a master’s in Jewish education. Lembeck began Hebrew studies and decided to become a cantor.

“It was impossibly difficult,” Lembeck said. “It took me seven years and I had to work twice as hard. Normally, it takes a cantor four years before ordination. My teachers would do roll call and say to me, ‘Are you still here?’ And I’ll never stop studying Hebrew. In the Jewish faith, a cantor is not just a choir director, he leads the worship service.”

Her work paid off, and her mentors speak glowingly of Lembeck’s vocal prowess and spiritual leadership.

Cantor Marcelo Gindlin of MJCS frequently leads services with Lembeck. “It was an honor to mentor Lorna,” Gindlin said. “She has the light of God when she sings and will connect every soul listening with the presence of God. Not many cantors can do that. I am happy to call her my great friend and, now, a great colleague.”

Nathanial Lam is cantor for the Stephen S. Weiss Temple in Los Angeles and dean of the cantorial school at UCLA’s Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life. He taught Lembeck and will be performing the ordination services this coming Monday.

“Lorna lights up a room and her delightful personality is infectious,” Lam said. “She’s very articulate. She’s always very prepared and her sense of humor is very welcoming. As a Jew by choice, she knows what that means. It’s easier to take people by the hand and lead them, rather than push them from behind.”

What would Lembeck’s Christian mother say about her daughter’s religious path? “I think she’ll be there in spirit,” Lembeck said. “Unfortunately, Mom died 21 years ago on Memorial Day. That’s the day of my ordination.”

After ordination, Lembeck will be cantor with the Creative Arts Temple, a liberal congregation unaffiliated with any movement that worships both in Sherman Oaks and Beverly Hills, with occasional forays into the desert at Rancho Mirage.

“Tikkun olam really is our mission,” Lembeck said. “Our fundraisers feed 100 people or raise money for soldiers. After seven hard years, I get to stand around now and sing a lot.”