From Social Media
High Holidays
Cantor Jacqui –
Thank you so much for the beautiful and enjoyable High Holiday services.
My family always loves listening to your amazing voice and participating in your warm, friendly, family services. Thanks for being such a warm, caring, friendly and inspirational Cantor and religious leader.
–Lee and Evy Goldberg
We attended Ahava high holidays service in Newton, MA. My husband and I felt a very deeply moved, an experience we hadn’t had in years. We are so grateful to have discovered Ahava. It is bringing us back to our appreciation of our Jewish lineage.
-Laura G.
Your warmth and talent bring services to a different level.
–Maureen Schnur
I’ve been going to Yizkor [memorial] services for decades – Ahava’s Yizkor service on Yom Kippur afternoon was the most beautiful and meaningful one I have ever attended.
–Esther B.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Students
Dear Cantor Jacqui,
Thank you so much for being my Bar Mitzvah tutor! I loved working with you this year! You made our time together enjoyable and fun, even while we got work done. I couldn’t be where I am right now without you. You made the process very easy for me. I am going to miss our weekly meetings!
With love,
Ethan M.
Thank you Cantor Jacqui!
Thank you for being so patient and for helping me prepare for today. You made the whole process easy, fun and not stressful! I had so much fun! Again, thank you!
Love,
Rebecca P.
Dear Cantor Jacqui,
I can’t thank you enough for being the best Bat Mitzvah tutor EVER. I will miss you! Thank you for everything.
Love,
Sydney Blair
Cantor Jacqui –
I am so lucky to have had you as my tutor. We laughed a lot, and your calm way of doing everything made me feel so comfortable and at ease about everything. I will miss coming to see you every week.
Love,
Sarah B.
Dear Cantor Jacqui,
You have become a very important person to me. At first, I was nervous about singing in front of you, but you made me feel confident and more sure of myself. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful! Thank you for inspiring me and for being such a wonderful teacher.
Fondly,
Alex G.
Dear Cantor Jacqueline,
Thank you so much for everything you have done for me! When I first walked in here, I was nervous, and I didn’t think I could accomplish nearly as much as I have. That’s certainly changed! You have been really friendly and helpful this whole process, and I doubt that I could have learned this much from anyone but you! I can’t believe that I’ve gotten this far, thanks to you! You’ve been a great teacher to me, and I’m sure you’ll continue for many, many others, who will also do great on their mitzvahs! Thank you sooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!
Love,
Stephanie
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Parents
Thank you again, Cantor Jacqui, for all your work and dedication to Ethan’s preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. His ceremony was beautiful and uniquely personal due to your care. Your genuine interest in Ethan as an individual: his interests, his humor, his particular learning style clearly shows your passion for the Jewish education of your students.
Every guest at the event felt your pride and excitement for Ethan during that momentous afternoon. You allowed him to shine through your guidance and be able to enjoy the moment through your support. We will treasure those moments as a family. Ethan’s bar mitzvah was a gift he can recall for the rest of his life to connect him to his Jewish heritage.
We look forward to enjoying future time with you as Ethan’s sister becomes a Bat Mitzvah. We are confident that her preparation will be as flawless and special as Ethan’s has been.
Jen and Eric Spindt
The party is over, the family is all gone. My gratitude that I have for you is something I really cannot put into words. Everyone felt your presence, your GORGEOUS and hypnotic voice, the love you have for Adam and even for me, people saw it. I felt it. You made that service complete. When you sang that song to Adam and you guys were smiling at each other, my tears were ones of joy. I cannot thank you enough for being who and what you are, for your unbelievable spirit and your ability to mesmerize us all with your presence and voice.
With a filled heart,
Melisse Gaffney
Every now and again you meet someone who changes your life. While we are sure Natasha is too young to realize it – you have changed hers. A year ago we brought you a child full of potential but lacking the confidence to realize it. You have given her that and it is a gift that should last a lifetime. By extension you have also touched all of our lives. We are forever grateful.
With love & hugs,
Michele F.S. & Michael F.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We want to thank you for guiding Ethan through the Bar Mitzvah process. It was a great experience for him. We never heard him complain about going to one of his meetings with you! We also want to let you know we thought the service was beautiful. It was especially meaningful since we had the chance to choose prayers, songs and melodies that are important to us and our families. Our memories of the day and the service will always include your beautiful voice, wonderful smile, and most importantly your teaching, supporting and guiding Ethan to be a truly blessed Bar Mitzvah.
Joyce and Neil M.
We can’t thank you enough for helping our daughter to prepare for such an amazing day. The service was so beautiful! Jacqui, your voice is amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful service. We have never been so proud of our daughter, we kept looking at each other and saying “is that really Maddy up there?” Thank you so much for giving her the knowledge and confidence to do such an amazing job. I have to tell you that many people came up to us and said it was the best Bat Mitzvah service they had ever been to. Many of these comments came from Conservative Jewish uncles to Protestant and Catholic friends. Everyone felt welcome and part of the service. We are so blessed and grateful.
Thank you, thank you.
Margie G.
We can’t thank you enough for yesterday, what a beautiful service! Our friends and family thought it was amazing and were so impressed with how well Sophia did, thanks to you! We really appreciate all the hard work you did with her and the patience you had with her when she could not read Hebrew. This day was one of the best days of our lives and we will treasure it always! Thanks for making it so special!
Fondly,
Margie G.
Thank you does not seem sufficient in expressing our deep appreciation to you! We are so grateful for the time and energy you so generously gave to Ethan over the past few months. You prepared him so well for his Bar Mitzvah that he was able to chant with confidence and pride. Your voice and presence during the service were so beautiful – you made the experience meaningful and memorable.
With all our best wishes and thanks,
Debbie S.
Thank you again for all your time and patience with Josh this year. As he (so honestly) stated – what he thought at the start would be a ‘dreadful’ process truly turned into a very rewarding experience. And thanks to you, he did a great job!
Julie Ellenbogen
I still think of you, your special patience, sensitivity, natural intuition, and genuine understanding of Eric which enabled you to work with him so successfully. You stuck with him and influenced him to turn things around from not really wanting to do it to ‘wowing’ his family and friends. So thank you – for all you do!
Sincerely,
Barbara W.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making Ian’s Bar Mitzvah into the wonderful day it was. You did such a wonderful job of tutoring him; of making him feel secure and comfortable, so that on the big day, his self-confidence just shone through. But as much as I need to thank you for all your hard work leading up to the Bar Mitzvah, I also want to thank you for the day itself. Your gorgeous voice, and your wonderful combination of solemnity and goofiness, made the day into something I will treasure forever. Our friends have been showering us with compliments. They’ve all commented on how warm and meaningful the service was, and how much you seemed to be enjoying yourself. Thank you – for everything!
Love,
Patty B.
Thank you – again! Once again, you took a wonderful ceremony and just elevated it to a whole new level with your beautiful music. Most importantly, thank you for giving Sabrina the strength and confidence to be the poised young lady we all saw. I don’t know when I’ve ever been so proud of my daughter. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Love,
Patty B.
Sarah looked so forward to her tutoring sessions that at one point she commented, “It’s like having a play date!” … Thank you so much for everything!
Maureen Schnur
Thank you so much for your kindness and patience with Maddie and all of us. This has been so much more than I expected in every way. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to have you help Maddie prepare.
Much love, appreciation and admiration,
Lisa D.
Thank you so much for making Jeff’s Bar Mitzvah experience so wonderful for our entire family! Your good humor was appreciated by all, and you helped Jeff over that rocky patch he had in the beginning with such kindness.
With sincere appreciation and affection,
Karen Salemi
How can I possibly thank you for the wonderful Bat Mitzvah ceremony you gave us last weekend? Your music was so beautiful and stirring. Everyone has been calling to tell me how magical it was. We are so happy that you were able to tutor Sarah. You made her whole Bat Mitzvah experience a positive one, and I know that you have been an inspiration to her.
Most sincerely,
Dara Goldman
…[M]y guests told me, ‘The Cantor beams love and happiness. You just want to go up and hug her!” …
I have learned so much from you over the years. Your sunshine has affected me so positively. Thank you!
Love,
Amy Paquette
Weddings
A Dream Come True. I highly recommend Cantor Jacqueline Breines who officiated at our wedding ceremony. From the moment we met I knew my fiancé and I had made the right choice. She was warm, enthusiastic, experienced and extremely organized. She worked with us to create a spiritual interfaith ceremony that included many of the traditions of a Jewish ceremony combined with spiritual elements that would be familiar to everyone. She sings like an angel and chanted blessings in both Hebrew and English and gave beautiful explanations of the various rituals we performed during our ceremony. Her patience with our many questions asked throughout the planning process was truly astounding. It was apparent how much Cantor Jacqui loves what she does and we felt excited and well prepared when our wedding day arrived. Our guests were all buzzing after the ceremony about how beautiful it was and what an amazing voice the cantor had. Several guests came up to me during the reception raving about the cantor and said it was the most incredible ceremony they had ever been to.
Lauren Stickler
Our guests were so moved by your beautiful voice, sincere words, and how distinct you made our ceremony. You were there for us through the whole process and made everything incredibly easy and enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make our ceremony everything we could have dreamed of. Thank you for making sure everyone felt comfortable and involved. To this day, we still hear from family and friends how beautiful and heartfelt our ceremony was. It was a memorable day to celebrate our love and thanks to you, it was better than we ever could have imagined!
Sarah and Matt P
Best part of our wedding day.
Our wedding ceremony remains my favorite part of our wedding day this past October! Cantor Jacqui was INCREDIBLY pleasant to work with. She was so flexible and consultative and immediately put us at ease. She took what could have been a stressful experience and made it enjoyable, fun and exciting before, during and after the wedding.
She is super professional, attentive and sweet. Her voice is breathtaking…I walked down the aisle w my parents to a song she sang for us and it was such a special moment that I will never forget. So many guests came to me weeks after the wedding telling me what a beautiful, intimate and unique ceremony it was.
Day of, she couldn’t have been more reliable-I didn’t think twice about the ceremony (private or public) or her ability to run the show!
Overall, I would recommend her and her services 10x over. She was fabulous!
[Additionally, Molly remarked that] “The B and B we stayed in [for our wedding night] overlooks the [outdoor garden] venue, and the owner of the house overheard the ceremony and said it was the most beautiful, warm, and intimate ceremony that she’s ever seen in the 40 years that she has lived there.”
Molly and Nick
Thank you for making our wedding so incredibly perfect. All of our family and friends are still talking about our interfaith wedding ceremony and how beautiful it was. Your voice is gorgeous. It was truly the best day of our lives, and we thank you so much for everything!
Love,
Meg and Dave
Cantor Jacqui is exceptional, and we feel so lucky to have had her officiate our interfaith wedding. She was extremely sensitive to everyone’s needs, easy to work with, flexible, and even funny!
It was obvious that she put a lot of time into crafting the perfect ceremony and experience for us and our families. She was our cheering section, our support, and our rock throughout this wonderful journey.
We never tire of hearing from friends and family how extraordinary our ceremony was. And her sweet, incredible singing voice was the icing on the cake!
We will be forever grateful.
Ruth and James
Funerals
Dear Cantor Jacqueline,
As I reflect back to my mom’s service, I relive a beautiful tribute to her. So many of our family and friends commented on how beautiful the singing of the Hebrew prayers was. I was so moved! I want to thank you for making my mom’s service so comforting, heartfelt and a beautiful memory.
Sincerely,
Phyllis
Dear Cantor Breines,
Thank you so much for singing at my wife’s memorial service, and also for being so warm and welcoming. Your stunning voice is the reason the ceremony was so lovely.
Thank you again,
Evan
Dear Cantor,
My grandmother’s funeral was spectacular. Your eulogy depicted her perfectly, and your singing was magnificent and just so moving. I cannot thank you enough.
-Wendy
Dear Cantor Jacqui,
Thank you so much for all you did to make my mom’s funeral special and evocative of Marcia. You captured her personality to a T. I loved the humorous parts as well as the serious and sad parts. Your beautiful singing truly enhanced the ceremony. I am certain Marcia would have appreciated this tribute to her life.
With deep gratitude,
Amy Aldrich
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Ahava: A Spiritual Experience in the Jewish Tradition 