became more recognizable in his music. Having completed his master's degree program at JTSA, Berlinski undertook doctoral studies in composition there. A major setback occurred in 1958 when he had a heart attack from which he made recovery and was able to complete his doctorate in 1960. This made him the first person ever to be awarded a doctorate in sacred music by that institution. Move to Washington, D.C. In 1963 Berlinski was named music director of Washington, D.C.'s Reform Hebrew Congregation where he worked under Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld who was enthusiastic about contemporary music and who wanted the temple to be presenting the best sacred music in the city. Here he continued composing music for liturgical use as well as many other works, he was called upon widely to lecture and write on the subject of Jewish music, and he gave many organ recitals including appearances at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris and Leipzig's Thomaskirche. Rabbi Gerstenfeld died in 1968, ending five years which Berlinski described as being "the most exciting and creative" of his life. Rabbi Gerstenfeld's widow paid tribute to her husband by commissioning Berlinski to write the oratorio, Job. Berlinski continued as minister of music at the Washington Congregation until his retirement in 1977. During those last years after Rabbi Gerstenfeld's death, requirements for Berlinski's liturgical music decreased, and he took the opportunity to compose larger vocal works and continued writing his sinfonias for organ with other instruments or singers. He lectured widely in the United States and Europe through his later career. Commitments included sessions at the Mendelssohn Academy in Leipzig under the auspices of the United States Information Agency, and at the Europäisches Zentrum für jüdische Musik (European Centre for Jewish Music), Hannover. Berlinski was commissioned to create Ets Chayim (The Tree of Life), for the opening of The Precious Legacy at the Smithsonian. Retirement; death After his retirement in 1977, Berlinski remained in Washington and founded his own performing group, Shir Chadash Chorale, through which he was able to arrange the performance of much Jewish music in the city and the surrounding areas. This thirty-voice choir continued its work for eleven years, giving concerts of Hanukkah and other high holiday music annually in the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts and the Washington National Cathedral. In early 2000 Berlinski was invited by the Milken Archive to Berlin to participate in the first