A popular local hazzan, Mitchell Kowitz, has a new business that offers dinner and a show in your home
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
If you bump into Cantor Mitchell Kowitz at the JCC these days and ask him, “What’s cookin’?” you might not get the answer you expect.
After almost three decades of being a congregational hazzan (cantor), the talented baritone is branching out to combine the three things he loves most, as he exclaims on his Web site: “Love to Cook. Love to Sing. Love Life!” He’s following his dream and takes inspiration from Theodor Herzl’s Zionist admonition: “If you will it, it is no dream.”
Like his tripartite mission statement, Kowitz’s enterprise has three parts, too.
• Private catering — For special entertaining, Kowitz brings a turnkey service to his clients’ homes. Not only does he provide the regular services of a professional caterer — everything from supplying the dishes (in this case, Rosenthal china), to cooking and serving, to clean-up — but the Kowitz touch includes entertainment tailored to a dinner theme or whatever the host requests.
• Kosher Cuisine, the book — A cookbook, which will be published early next year by Mighty Media, will convey a special blend of Kowitz spice. The cantor includes personal stories about his recipes, told in his own enthusiastic style. There are suggestions for menu accompaniments; but here’s where Kosher Cuisine for a New Generation distinguishes itself from the dozens of other cookbooks in the market: He provides a musical accompaniment. The cookbook will come with a password, so readers can go to a Web site (cantormitch.com), and download Kowitz singing festive songs recorded especially to complement the recipes.
• Television broadcasts and webcasts — Kowitz notes that there has been a proliferation of food and cooking programs — along with the “foodie” sensibility — in the past decade. His research shows that, while there’s a long American history of singing waiters, but there’s never been a celebrity “singing chef.” And there’s is no national kosher, Jewish cooking program either.
“This is my shtick,” Kowitz proclaims. “It’s been waiting for me to make it happen! I’m trusting in the ‘Oprah factor.’ Once I get enough of the right kind of exposure, this concept will really take off!”
He already has appeared on KARE-11, frying potato latkes for host Belinda Jensen. Since anyone can prepare and eat kosher food in their home, Kowitz foresees an audience that will include music lovers and those who just love good food and entertainment.
Those who only know Cantor Kowitz through his hazzanut (cantorial music) will be surprised to learn of his impressive musical background before he came to the bima. His career started in his hometown where he sang in the Jacksonville (Florida) Jewish Center Choir and was among the elite teens chosen to perform in Jacksonville all-city musicals.
He received classical training at the College-Conservatory of Music, of the University of Cincinnati, studying under the renowned Italian operatic bass, Italo Tajo. Tajo broke an institutional bias against freshmen when he chose Kowitz to sing the lead role of Don Pietro in the CCM’s production of Pergolesi’s The Brother in Love. Kowitz’s cantorial career began after he responded to an ad in Backstage magazine for a temporary hazzan at a shul in New Jersey. Studies followed shortly afterward for his cantorial career.
Like many aspiring performers, Kowitz headed to New York City. Between performing in national touring shows like Disney’s Pinocchio and The King and I, and acting in local dinner theater productions of Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof and Oklahoma, he worked in professional kitchens. He learned the trade and fell in love with fine cuisine. This gave him his “kitchen credentials.”
Many of the recipes that Kowitz created owe their inspiration to his three children. Joshua is currently a cantorial student in New York City; Michael is a freshman at the University of Minnesota; and Shelly is studying and working in the health care field.
“When it came to kosher food, chopped liver was not doing it for them,” he remembers. “I wanted to make meals that appealed to them but were still healthy and kosher.”
Kowitz’s creativity is not restricted to the kitchen. Over the years, the cantor, a past member of the American Composers Forum, composed many songs for the Temple of Aaron Choir. His compositions, including the cantata “Shalom” and “Celebrate the Past and Trust the Future,” are performed widely throughout the Twin Cities. He is particularly proud of Ruach Achshav, a teen Jewish rock band, which he formed at Temple of Aaron; he composed much of their music and taught several band members to play their instruments.
Every new journey starts with one step, according to the old adage. For Cantor Mitch, “The Singing Chef,” his new journey starts with a song in his heart and a spoon in his hand. Kowitz can start your meal by chanting Ha’Motzi (the blessing over bread), if you like. And you surely will hear him sing the tag that opens and closes each video: “Love to cook. Love to sing. Love life!”
(American Jewish World, 12.6.13)
