last word
Cantor Eliot Vogel
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
C antor Eliot Vogel arrived at
Har Zion Temple in Penn
Valley in 1991. He grew
up in Connecticut, graduated from
Boston University and then the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York
City and served congregations in his
home state and New Jersey.

But once he got to the Main Line, he
never left.

Through six rabbinic transitions in
15 years between the late 2000s and
late 2010s, Vogel was there. During the
pandemic, the cantor was the only per-
son in the building, keeping the com-
munity alive. And after it reopened, he
was still there, greeting people as they
walked through the doors or around
the campus.

But after the first Shabbat weekend in
November, he will no longer be there.

Vogel, 68, is retiring after more than
three decades. He said it’s time for a
younger voice to step onto the bimah
and help transition to shorter services
with more instruments and congre-
gational participation. Vogel believes
that Conservative synagogues are mov-
ing in that direction, while he is bet-
ter-versed in the longer Conservative
services of yesteryear.

“I imagine my successor being more
adept at speaking to the Jews who will
fill the pews in the future in a musical
language, style and idiom which, while
I might be able to appreciate, and might
even employ at times now, would not
be one that would feel entirely authen-
tic to me,” Vogel said.

But the cantor will be missed,
according to congregants.

Joe Carver, a Har Zion member for
70 years and a past president, called
Vogel the “glue who’s kept Har Zion
together.” Carver remembers the final
Yom Kippur service led by the previous
cantor, Isaac Wall, who served for 46
years, according to Har Zion’s website.

Carver recalls thinking that the syn-
agogue would never find such a great
cantor again.

Now, though, he admits that Vogel
proved him wrong.

“He’s much more than a cantor,”
Carver said.

But a great cantor he certainly is.

Carver remembered that, on numer-
ous occasions, Vogel’s baritone voice
brought him to tears. That voice can
make a prayer “reach deep inside of
you,” the longtime congregant said.

At the same time, according to
Carver, Vogel is like a rabbi: He’s “a
people person,” too. Despite his attach-
ment to Conservative traditions, Vogel
was willing to grow with his congrega-
tion. As Carver put it, Vogel probably
never imagined when he took the job
in 1991 that he would one day share
the bimah with a computer. But during
COVID, he adopted the practice to
keep services going online.

Carver is not sure if Har Zion would
even still be here without Vogel.

“There were people who fled when
we had rabbi turmoil,” he said. “But he
kept people there.”
Sarah Luksenberg has been a Har
Zion congregant for more than 40
years. She lives within walking dis-
tance of the synagogue on Hagys Ford
Road. And she called Vogel “the heart
of Har Zion.”
“For 32 years, he’s been a leader, a
mentor, a teacher,” she added.

Luksenberg thought about it for a
second and then stated with confidence
that she had not experienced a major
life event without Vogel present. He
was on the bimah at her bat mitzvah;
he officiated at her wedding; he over-
saw the naming ceremonies for her
children. While preparing for a wedding, the
cantor tries to get to know “everything
about you,” she said. And when he’s
prepping for a bar or bat mitzvah, “he’s
making sure you know the part and
why you’re doing the part,” she added.

“He’s always there and always avail-
able. He’s a true leader,” Luksenberg
concluded. As he transitions into retirement, Vogel
is looking forward to being available on
a weekend for maybe the first time in
his adult life. His wife, Karen Vogel, is
also planning on retiring from her job
as the director of social work for Saint
Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

Working for a hospital requires
weekend work, too, so for most of
their careers, “doing something on a
weekend was unheard of,” the cantor
said. Now the couple can just enjoy the
Sabbath and their three grandchildren,
all of whom live within driving dis-
tance in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and
Rockville, Maryland.

Vogel doesn’t have a more specific
plan than that. And he doesn’t want to
make one just yet.

“It’s evolving sort of daily,” he said.

As he looks back over his career,
the cantor hopes that people remem-
ber him for leading “beautiful services
with a lot of intent” and as “a constant
in people’s spiritual lives.” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
27 Courtesy of Har Zion Temple
RETIRES FROM HAR ZION TEMPLE AFTER NEARLY 32 YEARS