Cantor Joshua Diamond had learned from an early age what it meant to be a member of the clergy from his father, longtime Temple of Aaron Cantor Mitchell Kowitz. And even though he didn’t want his son to follow in his footsteps, it seemed inevitable.
“I felt something inside of me [on the bimah] that I didn’t feel when I was doing opera or musical theater or [plays] in college. And I saw, like I saw the profound impact that I could make on people’s lives,” Diamond said.
Kowitz died in his home on Sunday, Nov. 23. He was 68 years old.
“Mitchell Kowitz transformed and changed lives,” Diamond said. “With every single person that he met, and it didn’t matter who you were, whatever your situation was, you spoke to him, and you thought you were the most important person in the world.”
Kowitz left Temple of Aaron in 2012 after spending 23 years at the St. Paul congregation. He had worked in an adjunct capacity at Sharei Chesed in Minnetonka, and was contracted to lead High Holiday services at Temple El Emeth in Youngstown, Ohio, for the last several years.
One of the more memorable parts of his time at Temple of Aaron was creating a Jewish rock/folk band with many of the teens who were part of the synagogue community – most of whom he tutored for their B’nei Mitzvot. The band, Ruach Achshav, started as a Jewish youth group or camp-like singing.
“He bumped it up a notch with his own music, arrangement, and stylings,” said Mike Bell, who was part of the band. “In the early to mid-90s, I credit it for keeping me engaged and tied to the synagogue, even in my first couple years of college at the University of Minnesota.”
Bell and friends were already in a band together, and he said Ruach Achshav grew up around that. But many of the members reunited with Kowitz in 2015.
“We sat around the table and just played with a couple guitars and sang all the old songs that we did back in the 90s,” said Bell, who added that Kowitz’s adoption of music on the bima comes back to the earlier days of the synagogue, and Rabbi Bernard Raskas, who passed away in 2010.
“Mitch inherited a legacy that Rabbi Raskas started with a creative second day service where he sort of pushed the limits,” Bell said. “Mitch came in, and he brought guitar to the mix, and was playing guitar on the bema during Shabbat and holidays. It just sort of evolved from there.
“So much of who I am today is because of who he was when I was growing up.”
Music with the teens of Temple of Aaron was an extension of Kowitz in his pre-cantorial life. He met his first wife – Joshua’s mother – Jenna Zark at an audition in New York City. The two of them were in two different bands together, Flamewood and Seizures, and later wrote a musical called Solidarity, before Kowitz became a cantor.
“He really took songwriting and music very seriously. And plays, too,” said Zark, who became an accomplished author and playwright. “I admired how seriously he took it, and that helped me to give myself permission to do the same. He was always very encouraging; he told me to keep knocking on those doors. And I never forgot that.
“That perseverance he had made him a great role model. I think he was for a lot of people. I don’t think anyone would dispute that [Mitch] was a larger-than-life person.”
Kowitz’s widow, Denise, heard Kowitz sing long before she met him. He was part of a cantor’s concert at Temple Israel, where Denise was in the audience.
“I didn’t know who he was, but I heard that voice, and I was on the edge of my chair,” she recalled. and I said to my friend, who is this guy? And she said, ‘He’s Cantor Kowitz from Temple of Aaron. You know, he’s Broadway.’ I was just absolutely captivated by his voice.”
Denise and Mitch Kowitz
Denise Kowitz said that they often ran into people who the cantor tutored for the b’nai mitzvah.
“They would say ‘my kids were so much better because of you,’” she said. “It was unbelievable what he did, and he was selfless. He was so giving and loving. I’ve never met anyone like that in my life.”
Mark Divine, the president of Temple of Aaron, were among the many kids who learned from Kowitz.
“He just had a way of getting everyone,” Divine said. “He had this way of getting every kid to feel that they were going to be the star of their bar or bat mitzvah, and push them to do more.
“He made it fun for people. Synagogues now, it’s a challenge sometimes for kids to get interested in doing what it takes to have a really great bar or bat mitzvah, but he was all about the kid is the star. He really shined through in that.”
Diamond said that his father’s Hebrew name, Moshe David, is of two legendary, radically different characters in Hebrew liturgy.
“David was strong. He was confident. He was a warrior. Moshe was humble and was an ultimate servant of God,” Diamond said. “My father had attributes of both of those people. But what I love about both of those, those figures, is they’re both extremely flawed, and yet they’re extremely revered. And that’s my father in a nutshell.”
Cantor Kowitz is also survived by his children Michael and Shelly. The full obituary and funeral details were not available at the time of publication, and will be updated when available. Or readers can check the Hodroff-Epstein Memorial Chapel website.
We were in a play together in HS. He was so talented and a true friend. He will be missed. My heart goes out to Denise and his kids