Shalom, friends!

Madeleine LeBeau is a cantorial student at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. Her love of Jewish music and community began at age four at Temple Rodef Shalom in Northern Virginia, where she immersed herself in every aspect of Jewish life – singing in choirs, performing in Purim shpiels, and taking on leadership roles throughout her childhood and adolescence. Through these formative experiences, Madeleine came to understand that building authentic community – creating genuine connection and belonging – is essential to sustaining vibrant Jewish life.

For Madeleine, the cantor's role is threefold: building and sustaining community, teaching, and leading meaningful song.

Building and Sustaining Community At Princeton University, Madeleine found her home at the Center for Jewish Life, where she worked to revitalize the Reform Jewish community by championing inclusivity, developing new student traditions and activities, and strengthening relationships with university leadership. She created translated and transliterated machzorim and song supplements to ensure services were accessible to students at all levels of Hebrew fluency, and served as music director and arranger for Koleinu, Princeton's Jewish a cappella group. After graduating summa cum laude in 2024 with a major in History and minors in Judaic Studies, Vocal Performance, Music Theater, and Theater, Madeleine served as a chaplain intern at Princeton-Penn Medical Center (2024-25). There, she completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education while providing spiritual care to patients and their families during times of illness and recovery.

Teaching Madeleine believes deeply that learning is the heart of Judaism. Even before college, she founded a non-profit that organized intergenerational events nationwide, connecting the Greatest Generation – those who fought and won WWII – with today's teens. At Princeton, she created and taught a Saturday morning liturgy class for college students. She also led a fundraising campaign that bridged academic and co-curricular communities, bringing Tony Award-winner Alex Edelman to campus to make concerns about antisemitism accessible and compelling. As a Clergy Intern at Temple Emanu-El of NYC, she developed a comprehensive curriculum for adult b'nai mitzvah students. For the past five years, she has tutored b'nai mitzvah students in chanting Torah and Shabbat prayers, helping young people discover their own voices within Jewish tradition. Her scholarly work reflects this same commitment to Jewish learning: her senior thesis, Hymns and Hers, explored the role of women in authoring Reform American Jewish hymns, earning both the C.O. Joline Prize in American History and the Carolyn Drucker Prize in Judaic Studies. She also served as a Research Fellow for the Princeton Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, where she examined the intersection of faith and community.

Leading Meaningful Song Madeleine leads services with intention and warmth, fostering connection to G-d and community through song. She aims to create inclusive, spiritual worship experiences where congregants feel genuinely uplifted. At Princeton, she led weekly musical Shabbat services and holiday services that welcomed students into meaningful prayer. In her professional work as cantorial soloist at Har Sinai Temple in Pennington for three years, High Holy Day cantorial soloist at Temple Micah in Lawrenceville, cantorial soloist at Temple Rodef Shalom, and Clergy Intern at Temple Emanu-El in New York City, she brings both musical excellence and deep spiritual presence to every service.

In her free time, Madeleine can be found playing guitar, writing and arranging music, keeping up with the latest on Broadway, gathering friends around her table for meals and game nights, and attempting to break out of escape rooms (with a pretty solid track record)!