“A routine day for me isn’t really different than that of any other clergyman,” says Rabbi Ken Kanter, now in his 10th year as the leader of Nashville’s Congregation Micah Reform. “I teach young people, counsel married couples, make hospital visits, provide advice to my community, prepare my sermons and study the Torah.”
To say that Kanter’s life is routine, however, would be a huge mistake. Besides keeping his busy daily schedule, Kanter somehow finds time to contribute productively to a wide range of other Nashville community organizations. Kanter is chair of the Metropolitan Nashville Human Relations Commission, president of the Covenant Association, chair of the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ), chair of the Mayor’s Religion Task Force and president-elect of the Nashville Board of Rabbis. He also serves on various boards, including Family and Children’s Services, Nashville CARES, the CASA Advisory Committee, Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, the Country Music Foundation, The Mental Health Association and the Jewish Federation of Nashville.
Chicago-born and -bred, Kanter received a B.A. in Jewish and American History from Harvard in 1974, received his master’s degree in 1979 and was ordained in 1980. His prior rabbinical work has taken him to Chattanooga, Ohio, Texas and Australia. What many may not know is that Kanter is an authority on the history of American culture, with special focus on the Jewish contribution to American popular music from the 1840s to the 1940s. Kanter’s first book, The Jews on Tin Pan Alley, was published in 1982. He was also a contributing author to Jewish-American History and Culture, published in 1992. “When I was young, my parents were avid theatergoers,” says Kanter, proving once again that the apple never falls far from the tree. “I became involved in high school theater, and at Harvard I was president of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Then when I was at rabbinical school in Israel, I fulfilled a class requirement by giving a two-hour lecture on the Jewish contribution to American musical theater. Currently, I write and produce educational programs for TPAC.”
Kanter is married to Wendy Koplow Kanter, and they reside in Bellevue.
—Martin Brady
Ken Kanter’s Best of Nashville
Best Museum Gift Shop and Restaurant: Frist Center for the Visual Arts (try the homemade chips!)
Best Quiet Place in Nashville: Cheekwood’s Sculpture Garden
Best Display of Nashville’s Essence: The New Country Music Hall of Fame
Best Places for Live Music: Nashville’s Houses of Worship
Best Waiter: Michael at Park Café
Best Natural Resource: The People of Nashville’s Diverse Communities
Best Time to Drive in Nashville: Before the Traffic Lights Stop Blinking!
Best Hidden Treasures: “Nash Trash Tours,” Blair School of Music, the Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk, Nashville’s Many Arts Troupes
Best Hope for the Future: Community Impact, Hands on Nashville, Oasis Center, TNT
Best Nashville Sport: The Walks, Runs, Marathons, Dances, Dinners, Auctions and Concerts for a Myriad of Good Causes
