Theodore Aronson never intended to serve a congregation as its cantor.

"I thought I wanted to be an opera singer," he said. "My first stop was cantorial school. My idols were other cantors [who became opera stars]: Robert Merrill, Richard Tucker, Jan Peerce. All of these guys started as cantors. But in the middle of training, I fell in love."

He graduated from Hebrew Union College in 1967, at age 23 and went straight to Temple Sharey Tefilo, then in East Orange.

"There's not a part of synagogue life I didn't love," he said in an interview in his office just before Thanksgiving. "Other than the choice to get married and have children, this is the best decision I ever made."

Aronson's 40-year love affair with the cantorate and Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (renamed after a 1982 merger with Temple Israel), where the 63-year-old has spent his entire career, will be celebrated at Friday night services on Nov. 30 at the South Orange synagogue. His son, Noah, musician-in-residence at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Mass., has composed the liturgy. Aronson's wife, Sonia, and daughter Danit will also celebrate with him.

The evening will include one composition that father and son wrote together, although Aronson said he is not a composer and didn't really have much input.

The highlight of Aronson's cantorial career came early — when he was just 23. The congregation commissioned composer Gershon Kingsley to create the first rock Shabbat liturgy in 1968. Not only did Aronson sing alongside Kingsley and a choir of African-American gospel singers when the composition was first performed, he literally pushed Kingsley to write the music. "It was my job to keep calling Gershon and say, ‘How's it going?' — and he didn't have anything done," said Aronson. Three days before it was due, Aronson showed up at the composer's apartment, plying him with coffee and pushing him to complete the composition.

Kingsley, a pioneer of the Moog synthesizer and composer of the hit instrumental "Popcorn," would later ask Aronson to conduct the choir during rehearsals. Kingsley's composition, "Shabbat for Today," remains in circulation to this day, recently rereleased in versions by RebootStereophonic and the Milken Archive.

"It was such a high. Nothing has ever equaled that in my life," said Aronson.

That service began Aronson's journey at the synagogue — and the creativity that has stayed with him throughout his career as cantor, religious school director, and counselor.

Sharey Tefilo-Israel was the first of the area synagogues to mix, record, and cut a CD of music to share with the congregation; he continually records students and experiments with new liturgies. And he proudly showed off the Yamaha Work Station in his office that enables him to create the equivalent of a recording studio in his office.

But singing was never enough for Aronson, who said, "I could not see it filling up my life."

He went back to school — twice. He got a degree in education and ran the religious school at the synagogue from 1970 to 1986, while continuing to serve as cantor. Later, he continued his studies to earn a master's degree in social work from Yeshiva University in 1986. He ran one of the first synagogue-based parenting centers, part of a Reform movement pilot project. In 1975, before national organizations began pushing experiential learning in religious schools, he had students playing educational games in the sanctuary. "People couldn't get enough of it," he said.

When Sharey Tefilo merged with Temple Israel in 1982 and moved to its current location, Aronson orchestrated the ceremonial marching of the Torah scrolls from East Orange to South Orange. Sharey Tefilo's Rabbi Charles Annes made aliya at the time of the merger, and Temple Israel's Rabbi Herbert Weiner was getting ready to retire. "There was no process for the merger," said Aronson. He acknowledged that it took a while for the congregations to gel. "East Orange used to call themselves the ‘kissing congregation' because it was so friendly. When the merger happened, there was stress," he said. "There was a struggle, but it worked out over time."

Aronson has been at the congregation long enough to serve multiple generations. "I have had the opportunity to name children in the synagogue in East Orange whose children I have not only married and bar mitzva'd but also named their children. That's amazing, to see the life process of generations."

His proudest accomplishment? A program called Change for Change, which encourages children in the religious school to fill up tzedaka boxes. Aronson puts the money in the bank, and an unnamed philanthropist each year matches the money the children have raised up to $10,000.

Sharey Tefilo-Israel has developed a relationship through the project with the school system in Eilat; students there raise money as well, and Sharey Tefilo-Israel matches their funds.

"They look around their community and see who needs what. It could be providing free eye exams or providing free frames," Aronson said. "This project teaches kids to be philanthropists, and it teaches kids they have a responsibility to love and know and support Israel in every way they can."

Aronson said he plans to continue to be part of Sharey Tefilo-Israel for at least the next 10 years. "You can't get old with all the possibilities here," he said.