As the presence of federal law enforcement agents increased throughout the Twin Cities and Minnesota, there was a large Jewish clergy presence that was part of protests against the ICE arrival. For her part of leading the Jewish response within the Reform movement, Cantor Tamar Havilio was honored by her colleagues for the work.
Havilio was named the American Conference of Cantors Ba’al Chazon Award for Vision in Social Justice at the organization’s May 11 annual meeting. Havilio is the first Minnesota cantor to be honored with the award.
“When [Operation] Metro Surge and things were beginning to look really bad, I called my good friend (and classmate) Rabbi Jonah Pesner of the Religious Action Center, and I called [Union of Reform Judaism President] Rabbi Rick Jacobs, because he and I have known each other for 30 years,” Havilio said. “I said, ‘You guys have got to get here. The Reform Movement has to be a presence here.’ If you’re talking [about] walking the walk, this is it. We’re being attacked here.
“I was amazed by how many of my former students come from all over the country. It felt great as a teacher because that’s what I taught in my classroom. If you’re going to believe ‘Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof,’ Justice, justice, you shall pursue,’ you can’t just talk it,”
The award was first introduced in 2017 by former ACC president Steven Weiss as a way to ”recognize the wide range of ACC members’ cantorial talents” on and off the pulpit. A second Ba’al Chazon Award for Vision was given for sacred music.
“Since relocating to the Twin Cities, she has established herself as an outspoken (outsung?) presence in public demonstrations of interfaith solidarity, racial equity, and human dignity,” wrote Cantor Josh Breitzer, the current ACC president.
Havilio said that working for social justice has long been a fixture in her work in the cantorate, and she said she sought positions where her fellow clergy also believed in that work. But that also extended to her time at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, where she was the head of cantorial studies and senior cantor at the campus, where she wanted to have a “street presence.”
“The prayer leader should be the same person in the pews are they are on the bema,” she said. “In Jerusalem, I went to the Kotel every Rosh Chodesh, from 2011 until I left, to bring students and bring people of all genders by the way to the Kotel to pray with Women of the Wall.”
Havilio reflected on the MARCH Minnesota training she was part of in January during Operation Metro Surge. She was sitting with Mount Zion Temple Cantor Rachel Stock Spilker, who, along with her husband, Rabbi Adam Stock Spilker, was a classmate of hers at HUC.
“Rachel and I were sitting together, and we were very teary [about being] 30 years into our cantorate, and this is what we set out to do,” Havilio said. “And as cantors, we really believe in this and [what it means] to show up.”
Breitzer said that Havilio is “a model of what it means to be a contemporary chazan.”
“Living in the liminal spaces, in moments of nuance and uncertainty, and working together with clergy partners to make those moments meaningful for everyone gathered,” Breitzer wrote. “We could not be happier or prouder to highlight Tamar in this way.”