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Every other Wednesday morning the social hall, complete with piano, awaits them.

They come from all over the Garden State: male, female, Conservative, Reform, and independent. As they settle in at the round tables for a little schmooze before rolling up their sleeves, they exchange warm greetings, crack jokes, and share extra buttons endorsing favored presidential candidates. It's their singing voices, and their black three-ring binders overflowing with music, that separate them from other volunteer or social groups.

This is the New Jersey Cantors' Concert Ensemble, the world's first co-ed cantorial singing group.

Their mission: to ensure the future of hazzanut and other synagogue music by raising scholarship funds for men and women preparing to become cantors; to present concerts that enable today's American Jews to hear and appreciate the music of the great masters of synagogue music, as well as many newer varieties of Jewish music. The ensemble presents public concerts several times a year, usually in northern and central New Jersey. None of the cantors accepts a fee; not even travel reimbursement.

Cantor Dan Green, ensemble chair, is cantor emeritus at Congregation B'nai Israel, Toms River. A member since 1974, he is the longest-serving member of the ensemble. "I don't know exactly when it began, but my understanding is that it was the late 1960s. In 1976, when everybody was celebrating the U.S. Bicentennial, there was a huge concert in Pennsylvania which involved our ensemble plus two other cantors' ensembles from the Atlantic City and Philadelphia areas." The NJCCE featured exclusively male voices until 1987, when Marla Barugel and Erica Lippitz received cantorial investiture by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

At the opening of a recent meeting, as the cantors moved from the round tables to the chairs arranged in an arc opposite the piano, Hazzan Sheldon Levin raised his baton. "We begin with Keren Or," he instructed.

"Is she an ensemble member?" quipped a member.

"Only if she pays dues," Levin responded.

The exchange elicited chuckles. None of the cantors actually pays a membership fee, but each donates his or her time, talent, and gas mileage in kind. Another cantor had a question about a spot where "the girls come in on page 10." Levin responded, "There are no girls here, only women." The question is rephrased as, "where the alleged trebles come in on page 10." More laughter.

Green continued, "When Marla and Rikki were first invested by the seminary, we immediately invited them to join as NJCCE's first two female members. Therefore we are proud to be the world's very first cantors' ensemble of both men and women. I'm very proud of that because the debate [on whether to invest women] in the Cantors' Assembly lasted a couple of years and I always advocated admission of women right from the beginning. In fact, I even became a member of the Women's Cantorial Network to show my support, even though I'm no longer an official member."

Cantor Mark Biddelman has served Temple Emanu-El of the Pascack Valley, Woodcliff Lake for 42 years. Some of his b'nai mitzvah students are the grandchildren of his original b'nai mitzvah students. He has sung with the NJCCE for the past 21 years. "This is a group of which my own bar mitzvah tutor, Sam Morginstin, was a charter member," Biddelman told The Jewish State. "When I became a cantor I stayed in touch with him. He twisted my arm for years and years to join the ensemble. Eventually when I did, we got to sing together, which was very nice."

The ensemble has grown musically over the years. At first, the cantors took turns at the podium, but when Levin joined the group in 1999 after moving to Metuchen from Philadelphia, the group asked him to become the conductor and music director.

"Sheldon began expanding our repertoire from just the old cantorial masters to other Jewish musical venues: classical, Sephardic, Israeli, Yiddish, American contemporary, even comedy," Biddelman said. It's a real plus according to the consensus of the ensemble as well as audience reaction. "It's fantastic that we're more friendly/accessible to the public that way. Our congregations are changing, our audiences are changing, and they're receptive to more sounds. Services can be fun, concerts can be fun, Jewish music can be uplifting, spiritual, fun."

According to Levin, who has served Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen since 1999, the growth in repertoire has led to a growth in incentive.

"We clearly have a well balanced four-voice ensemble whereas in previous generations it was primarily men," Levin said. "Today's cantors who join our ensemble look to sing a wider variety of music, a greater level of musicianship, and not just the same pieces they've done over and over again for many years."

Hazzan Estelle Kunoff Epstein of Congregation Beth Sholom, Teaneck and Temple Emanu-el, Woodcliff Lake, joined in 2003. "The ensemble brings a very eclectic selection of Jewish choral music to synagogues, nursing homes, and day schools and shows a facet of cantors that is not always visible," Epstein said. "After all of our concerts there is a heightened excitement about Jewish music."

Cantor Barbra Lieberstein, ensemble secretary, joined in 1995.

"It keeps me connected to my colleagues, to Jewish music, and it's good for my brain to stretch into new areas of Jewish music," Lieberstein said.

But what happens when a bunch of cantors who are used to singing solos try to blend into a choir?

"We're all professionals - we listen to each other and know how to blend with each other's particular voices," said Cantor Ruth Katz Green, of Temple Beth Shalom in Manalapan. "We all direct choirs at our own synagogues, but here I get to sing with my musical peers, and it's challenging for me. It's stimulating because I so enjoy singing with and seeing my colleagues on a regular basis."

Besides synagogues, the NJCCE performs at community centers, Jewish professional organizational conferences, nursing homes and Jewish day schools. The diverse venues allow outreach to audiences who "normally wouldn't get to see us, and we would like to help teach the next generation to appreciate a wide level of Jewish music," said Levin.

Clearly the cantors are in it for the good of the Jewish future. While they're at it, it's good for them as well. Twice a year they get together for a Yom Iyyun (day of study), an innovation of recent years, to which they invite a speaker; often another cantor with a musical or educational specialty to share. The benefit of collegiality is also a boost.

Cantor Anna West Ott of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick, had this to say: "Cantors are there for our congregants. We have chosen that. Being in a group with cantorial colleagues is an opportunity to share, to learn, to be there for each other's joys and sorrow in a way that's unique. And to do this while we are singing further strengthens the bond, that we are engaged in something that's beyond the ability of mere words to express."

"Part of the success of the ensemble," said Cantor Matt Axelrod, Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains, NJCCE member since 1995, "is the variety of backgrounds and experience that our members bring. We include cantors who serve congregations of various denominations throughout New Jersey. We're able to learn from each other and gain from each other's differing perspectives. My own participation in the New Jersey Cantors Concert Ensemble has greatly enhanced my ability to serve my own congregation in song and prayer."