In
1948 a little girl 7 years old came to America with her mother
and father on the Queen Mary with hundreds of other refugees.
Nearing the shores of New York, she saw a tiny statue in the
water. Everyone on the boat became very quiet and started
softly singing prayers of gratitude, kneeling down to kiss
the ground. The little girl couldn�t stop looking at the
beautiful statue. As they got closer and closer, it seemed
as if this beautiful woman with a wand so tall and strong
was smiling at her and was saying something good to her. It
reminded her of when her father threw her over the barbwire
fence in 1944 at the Swiss border, looking up to the heavens
he said, �Save my daughter and she will always serve you�.
This little girl always knew in her heart her destiny had
been chosen.
Believing
fervently that we are all connected, visionary Cantor Estherleon,
for many years, has been bringing all faiths and cultures
together for a deeper understanding of each other.
Poverty
has a particularly strong meaning to Estherleon. A child Holocaust
survivor, she has endured the poverty of food, shelter, safety
and thoughts when she was on the run form the Nazi's for the
first 4 years of her life finally escaping in 1944 to Switzerland.
Sheltered by nuns in convents through parts of this period,
she didn't realize until now that the DNA of the church music
would ultimately play a big role in the Jewish music she sings
as a cantor. Her gifted and compassionate voice has been chronicled
in numerous testimonials.
Life's challenges saw her rise from welfare to riches, which
she gave up, after a family tragedy. She became a Cantor, a
female in a male's world. She survived that, then decided "Against
all odds" (CCN News) to take her administering to the people,
founding 3 storefront spiritual reading rooms for all people,
religions and cultures, in the process creating Beth Shirah
(House of Song). She has always seen challenges as a gift to
the higher spirit echoing the survival of her earliest years.
She is now welcomed by the Buddhist at the Hsi Lai Temple, the
Baha'i Faith the Braille Institute and healing centers. She
tirelessly administers to the sick through her voice, as a volunteer
Para-Chaplain at a renowned hospital in Los Angeles. Voices
of Hope is her dedication to the immense insurmountable challenges
to see the end of poverty in her lifetime. Her music, and poetry
will bring people into the fold of caring, through nurturing
and compassion. Her determination is unshakable.
"The children are our future, what better way to receive than
to give them life through our deepest caring. Their poverty
is our poverty, and our shame. We have to listen to their voices
of hope"
