The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
In her first of two interviews, Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer discusses her transition to spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Abraham in Butler, Pa. in 2011 including the trials and tribulations of being new. The Cantor reminisces about her mother and childhood in a small town upstate New York that had a population of 1500. She shares that she was raised Methodist before converting to Judaism as an adult after marrying a Jewish man. Cantor Gray-Schaffer reminisces on the impact that Rabbi Walter Jacob and Rabbi Benno Jacob had on her career and she talks about the importance of music in religion.