For nearly nine decades, music has been part of Max Sternthal's life, from singing in Montreal’s Jewish community as a young man to serving as the first cantor at Temple Israel in Ottawa. Today, he continues to perform with the Sunset Singers, a seniors’ choir that entertains at retirement communities and community centres.

Sternthal, a long-time member of Ottawa’s Jewish community, celebrated his 100th birthday on Wednesday.

His years of singing began in Montreal, when he joined the choir at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA).

“I never knew that I had a voice,” he said. “The leader of the choir soon realized that I was able to sing and very quickly began giving me solos.”

That experience led to many more years of music. Sternthal went on to lead services at his local junior congregation, purchased his first guitar and taught himself to play, and later became a travelling musician.

His job at Rusco Manufacturing eventually brought him from Montreal to Ottawa, where he and his wife settled and started their family. It was also in Ottawa that he became involved in organizing Temple Israel’s early congregation and leading services.

Sternthal recalled that Ottawa’s Jewish community was much smaller when he arrived in the city, with only a few thousand people, but was close-knit and active.

“My wife and I were the 20th members to join the congregation,” he said. “For a while, we met in people’s homes. When we built the current building, I became the congregation’s first cantor, a role in which I served for 15 years.”

Even after leaving his formal role as cantor, Sternthal continued to sing as part of Jewish communal life. He performed songs in Hebrew, Yiddish and English and sang Kol Nidre at Temple Israel for many years after serving as cantor.

His musical activities also extended beyond the synagogue, including performances in Florida and, later, with the Sunset Singers, a local choir that performs for residents of retirement communities in and around Ottawa.

Sternthal has also used music to teach about and preserve the memory of the Holocaust. In his later years, he wrote two books, including one about his own life and My Cousin Danny and his Mysterious Box, a story about a boy living with extended family during the Holocaust.

He also developed musical programs about the Holocaust for different age groups, presenting them in religious schools, nursing homes and other settings. The programs were created to teach younger generations about the Holocaust and the importance of preserving its memory.

Now, as Sternthal celebrates his 100th birthday, he continues to sing with the Sunset Singers.

The voice he first discovered as a young man in Montreal is still being heard nearly nine decades later.