Published: October 24, 2009
Child Holocaust Survivor Traces Steps to Lifelong Dream
By Tony Panaccio
Female Cantor Went From Rags To Riches to Tragedy to Faith. Estherleon Schwartz was destined to be a Cantor.
A holocaust escapee, she was four years old when her father tossed her over a barbed wire fence into the waiting arms of Swiss soldiers. Just before that fateful event, he looked to the heavens and uttered the words, "Save my daughter and she will always serve you."
Her first view of America was from the deck of the Queen Mary when she was eight years old, passing by the Statue of Liberty, thinking she was holding a magic wand. About 40 years later, after a life that started her in tatters, yet bathed her in riches, Schwartz discovered both her treasure and her destiny as an American, and she became invested as one of only a few hundred female cantors in the United States.
"I am very grateful to have the honor of fulfilling the prophesy my father made in 1944 at the Swiss border when the Nazis were chasing us," said Schwartz, who recounted her story in Tears of Stone and My Deal with God (www.estherleon.com). "It has been a painful, tiring yet inspirational journey in reaching my goal to have a deeper understanding of myself, my purpose in life, in relationship to the world around me. One thing I always hung on to were my father's words of serving, so I 'hung out' with God, asked for guidance, tried to have patience and faith which gave me hope and wisdom to understand that everything is in divine time."
But the road to that destiny wasn't always easy. In fact, it was relentlessly difficult. Her life as an adult began not long after she graduated high school, when - against the advice of her mother - she married the first man she ever kissed.
"I can't imagine why my father and mother locked me up in my bedroom the night of my high school graduation after I told them I was going to get married," she said. "So, I ran away and got married and quickly had two children. We were poor, and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. They separated not long after, stranding me as a welfare mom with two children in a roach-infested apartment on the south side of Beverly Hills. There were nights I wish they had kept me locked up even after that night."
After a string of dead-end jobs - and suffering through the unexpected passing of her father in 1973 - the single mother struggled to make ends meet. One night, a well-meaning friend, trying to help her find a new husband, gifted her with a vintage lavender shirt-maker dress and took her to a society party. That night, the husband of the party's host advised her humorously that she had to leave, because her dress was so beautiful, it was stealing his wife's thunder. She proclaimed the dress was for sale, and wound up selling a $45 dress for $500 to the man. The idea that she could get such money simply from selling a dress inspired her, and so she and her brother Sam started a clothing store, House of Cashmere. The store grew to 13 locations, and the two siblings went from rags to riches selling upscale high-end fashions to the rich and famous in Beverly Hills.
Despite their success, Sam took his own life in 1985, and Schwartz began to reach out for something more than material wealth. She found it in the music of her in the sacred, ancient choral sounds she claimed had "become intertwined with my DNA."
In a man's world, she was invested as a Cantor, and began administering to people of all faiths. She founded three storefront spiritual reading rooms for all people, religions and cultures, and in the process created Beth Shirah (House of Song). She tirelessly administers to the sick through her voice, as a volunteer Para-Chaplain at a renowned hospital in Los Angeles. She works to use her music and poetry to bring people into the fold of caring, through nurturing and compassion. Further, she is acting on her dream to bring comfort to others by donating $1 from each sale of her book to support Feed the Children's effort to end world hunger.
"The children are our future, what better way to receive than to give them life through our deepest caring. Their poverty is our poverty, and our shame. We have to listen to their voices of hope."
(Tony Panaccio is a staff writer for News & Experts Syndicate.)
About Estherleon Schwartz
Estherleon Schwartz is a philanthropist and female Cantor based in Los Angeles. Her spiritual music centers and charities have been endowed by celebrities such as David Geffen and Steven Spielberg, and she was inducted as a member of the Board of Directors at the Los Angeles chapter of the United Nations on World Peace Day, last September 21.
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