My name is Richard Allen I have been active in synagogue life since I was seven years old and the boy soprano in an Orthodox synagogue, where I studied Hebrew for nine years and became a Bar Mitzvah. The Cantor was my ideal. My ears were like a sponge as I soaked up the Eastern European set melodies as well as his improvisations. When my parents moved to a Conservative synagogue I joined the choir as bass soloist. I remained a Conservative Jew until the age of thirty, when I was chosen by Sinai Temple (Reform) in Mt. Vernon, New York. Rabbi Henry Kagan, who had a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, was my rabbi. Although he passed away many years ago, he is still my rabbi. He taught me what a rabbi should be. It took me only four months of listening to his sermons to decide to become a Reform Jew. I actually started my cantorial and operatic careers at the same time in 1963.