Cantor Elizabeth loves to share her commitment to creating and sustaining a spiritually vibrant Jewish community.
She was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and raised in San Diego, California. She earned a B.A. in Social Anthropology with minors in Spanish and Russian from San Diego State University. Since she became Jewish in 1989, she has served the Jewish community as a teacher of music and Jewish Studies, as a song-leader, a chaplain, and finally a cantor and religious school director. For the past five years, she served as the Cantor/Educator in the synagogue in Salt Lake City, and for 20 years prior, while living in Los Angeles and raising children, she served in a wide variety of Jewish settings, from a Hebrew-immersion preschool, to a nursing home.
Cantor Elizabeth has supervised B’nai Mitzvah programs at multiple synagogues, always maintaining high standards for her students. She has also run two different religious schools, maintaining or increasing both enrollment numbers and the quality of the education.
Cantor Elizabeth is married to Lev Mallinger, and they have six children, a dog, and a grandson. She loves attending concerts and live theater, but has lately devoted more time to baking, gardening, and knitting.