Temple of Diamonds

About the Book

Temple of Diamonds is an anthology of essays composed by the author during his years as an educator and cantor at Temple Israel of Albany, New York, from the 1960's to the present. Included are essays on Judaism, the Synagogue, Jewish Education, vignettes of nature, and poems. Foremost among these essays is an account of the author's conversion to Christianity and return to Judaism.

About the Author

Cantor Picker, grandson of an orthodox cantor from White Russia, under the tutelage of his maternal uncle, left Judaism at the age of fifteen, becoming a Jehovah's Witness.

  Fifteen years later, having become disenchanted with teachings of the Watchtower Society, he returned to his ancestral heritage, becoming a Jewish educator and subsequently the cantor of Temple Israel.  He is the author of The Descendants of Velvel Pochapovsky, Students Discover Genesis, He Kindled a Light, and "Make us a God!"