Rabbi-Hazzan Ira L. Rohde is hazzan-minister (cantor) of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York—North America’s first congregation—and he holds rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, in New York City. He has made a special study of the Portuguese liturgical traditions, working closely with Shearith Israel’s esteemed hazzan emeritus, the Reverend Abraham Lopes Cardozo, who came to that congregation from Amsterdam and Surinam.