What makes you so passionate about Judaism?

When I was about seven or eight years old, my maternal grandmother came to live with us. She grew up in the shtetl of Gomel in what today is Belarus. When I came home each day from school, my grandmother would share stories about her life in the shtetl. From these stories, I gleaned a passion for the survival of the Jewish people.

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When I was 10 years old and attending Hebrew School four days a week, I was inspired by my cantor and by the education director of my childhood congregation. The holiness that entered my soul through sacred music and the love of a pioneer people for a new Jewish homeland resonated through me and enriched my very being.

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As an adult, I realize the texts of the Jewish people are my story. It is a story that I want to tell: the Jewish people have a message to share with the entire world; there is meaning to life; and God is at the center of everything.

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Sharing my life with my wife Karen has added another dimension of spirituality to the core of my being. Her love and passion for learning and for the Jewish people enrich me daily.

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What drew you to becoming a rabbi?

My road to becoming a rabbi is unusual. Having decided that I wanted to dedicate my life to the Jewish people at a very young age when others were playing baseball, I was playing synagogue. I entered Cantorial School right after college. I received my ordination and a degree in Jewish education at the same time. Though I had the good fortune to serve two congregations as Cantor-Educator, I never felt fulfilled.

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In my early years at Temple Emanu-El in Atlanta, I led the congregation while the synagogue searched for a new senior rabbi. I needed more knowledge, and I began studying rabbinic texts with a study partner by telephone. For eighteen months, I was the sole spiritual leader of the congregation. My study continued for sixteen years. Being offered rabbinic ordination, I had a conversation with my wife Karen, and she said: “You have always been a rabbi; you might as well get the title.” I accepted ordination and continued to serve Temple Emanu-El along with the other clergy.

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What is the spiritual background of your early years?

My parents were highly assimilated secular Jews. The grandmother who lived with us was a member of the Workmen’s Circle (Yiddishe Arbeiter Ring) and had no use for ritual but was culturally Jewish, and the house rang with Yiddishkeit.

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When I convinced my parents I wanted to become a bar mitzvah, they went "shul shopping," and ultimately we joined a Reform temple on the Westside of Los Angeles.  When I entered the synagogue for the first time, I heard the cantor singing, and I was immediately attracted to Jewish music.  Every activity I participated in from that moment on was synagogue-centered. My parents eventually joined the temple choir and became very active.  Jewish camping and Jewish learning were my biggest interests. I was a “shul nerd.”

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The day after Karen and I married, I left L.A. to attend the cantorial school of the Reform seminary, HUC-JIR, in New York. There I came under the influence of incredible thinkers like Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, the late Dr. Henry Slonimsky, and the late Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who opened new worlds of philosophy and theology to me.

 

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