The dictionary defines a cantor as a synagogue official who sings or chants liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer.

In her 13 years as cantor at B’nai Abraham on North Main Street in Butler, Michal Gray-Schaffer has more than exceeded that definition as she led the congregation in both song and spirit.

Much to the dismay of the 60 families who belong to the 200-year-old B’nai Abraham congregation, Gray-Schaffer retired at the end of June.

Chris Hood, president of the board of directors at the synagogue, said Gray-Schaffer started off with a huge skill set when she was hired, having earned a theatrical master's degree from Syracuse University and studied Judaism for nine years.

“By the end of her tenure, she had incorporated that into becoming an essential part of the Butler Jewish community,” Hood said. “All of the congregants felt heard, appreciated and loved.”

Gray-Schaffer said she announced she would retire in June 2023, but Hood and others at the synagogue talked her into staying for one more year.

“I’m 71, and it was time,” she said of retiring last month. “The drive was getting to me.”

Gray-Schaffer, who lives in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh, said she could make it to Butler in an hour in years past, but construction and traffic tie-ups have caused the commute to last longer in the last few years.

Gray-Schaffer hearkened back to September 2011, when she was serving as a chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Pittsburgh.

Gray-Schaffer picked up a copy of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle one day and noticed the posting for the cantor job at B’nai Abraham.

“I loved chaplain work, but I felt called to have a congregation,” she said.

While many synagogues employ both a rabbi and cantor, Gray-Schaffer provided all the services needed by the small congregation in Butler, including presiding over services, weddings, funerals, and any other ceremony or religious need in her flock.

She explained that a cantor is in charge of each service’s liturgy, which is their area of expertise and which is carried out in Hebrew.

Gray-Schaffer’s theatrical singing voice also augmented her skills.

“We sing almost all of our liturgy and prayers,” she said.

She said cantors are ordained, like rabbis.

“A rabbi has more expertise in the Talmud and the Torah, although (cantors) have many courses in both,” Gray-Schaffer said of Judaism’s holy books. “Rabbis learn Aramaic, the language of the Talmud.”

The new lady of leisure named one accomplishment above all others during the past 13 years at B’nai Abraham.

“The work I did in the community to give Judaism a face for the people in the community who many not have had that opportunity before, to know what we are like,” Gray-Schaffer said.

She also is proud of her association with and activity in the Butler Clergy Network.

“I am proud to say I was one of the co-founders of the (network),” she said. “It was formed at B’nai Abraham, when area clergy came together to do a vigil service after the Tree of Life tragedy.”

She said the empathy and sorrow shown to herself and her flock by local ministers, pastors, priests and other clergy after 11 Tree of Life congregants were shot and killed and six people were wounded in October 2018 was stunning.

“I felt terrifically gratified. It touched my heart,” Gray-Schaffer said.

The Butler Clergy Network also provided her favorite memory at the synagogue.

“When the network members found out we were facing levels of antisemitism in January 2023, they wanted to know what they could do to support us,” Gray-Schaffer said.

The result of that concern was five local Christian congregations attending services at the synagogue.

“One congregation brought almost 40 members,” Gray-Schaffer said, a tinge of disbelief still in her voice. “They stayed for almost two hours at dessert after the service.”

She said the visiting congregation was shown the synagogue’s Torah and given a tour of the building that is normally reserved for Jewish people.

“It was lovely,” Gray-Schaffer said of the backing and encouragement she felt from the visiting congregation members at that tragic time.

Although she is an expert on the Torah, speaks Hebrew, and has an intricate understanding of the faith, Gray-Schaffer was not raised Jewish.

She grew up in the tiny hamlet of Shushan, N.Y., which had a population of 350.

“Butler is big in comparison to my upbringing,” Gray-Schaffer said.

She followed her passion and attained degrees in fashion design and theatrical costume design and worked in those fields before marrying her Jewish husband, Eric Schaffer, in 1981.

She promised to raise the couple’s children in the Jewish religion.

“I said ‘In order to do that, I ‘m going to have to learn about Judaism,’ so I took an introduction to Judaism course and I just loved everything about it,” Gray-Schaffer said. “I felt I had found a home, and I did a lot of studying and converted in 1987.”

Having sung in many synagogues in the Pittsburgh area, she found herself serving as the music specialist and substitute soloist at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh.

“At one point, Rodef was looking for a cantor, and the rabbi said ‘Can you do the things a cantor does?’ and I said I would try,” Gray-Schaffer said. “I found that I just loved everything about a cantor’s job.”

She earned her cantor certificate after nine years of study through Hebrew Union College in New York City, where she performed various testing and took a few classes.

But she mainly studied under mentors and teachers in Pittsburgh, learning everything a cantor student learns.

“It took me nine years to do the five-year program,” Gray-Schaffer said of her nontraditional schooling, which is no longer offered to cantor students.

Gray-Schaffer plans to attend birding walks at the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania’s Beechview Nature Preserve, travel and garden during retirement.

“And I want to do more praying with my feet, and that’s a quote from my hero Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel,” she said.

By that, Gray-Schaffer means carrying out social justice work.

She said the congregation at B’nai Abraham gave her a well thought-out and fun retirement dinner that completely filled the social hall.

“It was fabulous,” Gray-Schaffer said. “It was beyond my wildest dreams.”

A signature cocktail, called the “Michal Tov,” was created in her honor, as was a vegetarian meal in keeping with her dietary standards.

“That was a lot for some people, but then once they tried the food, they thought it was wonderful,” Gray-Schaffer said.

She said lay leadership is now guiding the congregation while they seek a new cantor, and Gray-Schaffer will return to preside over High Holy Days.

Gray-Schaffer has spent several days recently going through files, which are reminding her of the people, places and events that took place while she served the B’nai Abraham congregation.

“My favorite part of the job was the people in my synagogue and the people in the community,” she said. “I’ll also miss the structure and the singing. I’ll have to find a new way of using my voice, which I plan to do.”