New Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre rabbi aims to connect with community

After finishing law school and passing the bar exam in Brazil, Michel Schlesinger decided that he would rather become a rabbi than pursue a career in law, and that there was just one person he had to persuade.

“It wasn’t very easy for my mom because she wanted a lawyer, not a rabbi,” he said with a laugh. “I had to convince her.”

Schlesinger eventually was able to gain the approval of his mother, Jisela Kormes, and pursued his dream. Six months ago, he became the newest rabbi at the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre. Last Friday he hosted his first full in-person service.

“I am very excited for tonight’s ceremony because it’s difficult to engage with people digitally when you do not know them,” he said on the morning before the service. “So I want to be with real people, in person, and I’m looking forward to this moment. So far, it’s been a good experience, but because of the pandemic, I’m not living it in its full potential yet, and I think it’s going to happen now.”

Schlesinger came to East Rockaway from São Paulo, Brazil. He said that he fell in love with rabbinical studies after he completed his bar mitzvah and began to help at his local synagogue, at first assisting a rabbi there and then teaching. After earning his law degree from São Paulo University and passing the bar, he decided to switch careers. He completed his studies at Schechter Institutes in Jerusalem, where he was ordained, and then went on to become head rabbi at a synagogue in his native Brazil for 16 years.

Two years ago, Schlesinger took a sabbatical to London for three months with his wife, Juliana, an anthropologist, and his daughters, Tamar, 12, and Naomi, 8. Then he decided to come to East Rockaway because it was close to New York City, which he called “the Mecca of critical, progressive Judaism.”  He had learned that there was a vacancy there after Rabbi Andrew Warmflash retired in July 2020.

HERJC President Stephen Moelis said that, after an exhaustive search for a replacement, many things drew him to Schlesinger, who was in Brazil at the time, when they conferenced over Zoom.

“He, on paper, in his résumé, seemed to have everything that we were looking for,” Moelis said. “He had a young family, he had been a senior rabbi for the better part of 15 years . . . he had engaged in significant fundraising activities, had engaged in significant membership outreach, he was a star student in college, which would appeal to those members of our population who are looking to be educated. He was incredibly personable and warm, and clearly interested in what we had to offer as a synagogue.”

Moelis said about 30 people applied for the job through the Rabbinical Assembly, an international association of rabbis, but the HERJC committee decided after several conversations that Schlesinger was right for the job. The search started in October 2019 and culminated after Warmflash left, but because of Covid Schlesinger was stuck in Brazil.

Upon taking the helm at HERJC, Schlesinger hosted several virtual cocktail hours to get to know congregants, and spent most of the first part of 2021 hosting services virtually. The temple was then able to switch to a hybrid model, allowing a select few parishioners in-person, until the Omicron variant caused it to return to virtual-only services for two months. Friday marked the first full in-person session.

During his time leading his faith in Brazil, Schlesinger said, he had many influential experiences, which included working closely with Pope Francis to promote interfaith services, which, he said, mean a great deal to him.

“The most amazing of all is his capacity to concentrate and be with you,” Schlesinger said of the pope. “One of our meetings was in St. Peter’s Square with thousands of people, and the 10 minutes that we chatted, that we were together, he was absolutely concentrated, as if we were the only two people there.”

Schlesinger said that Francis had a strong sense of humor. When Schlesinger told him that he was friendly with someone the pope knew, Francis suggested that Schlesinger “get better friends,” and he playfully mocked him about the Brazilian soccer team.

Schlesinger said he planned to continue interfaith lessons in East Rockaway, and part of his outreach to congregants has included teaching online classes, Hebrew courses and introducing music to the in-person services, including piano and guitar. He said he hoped to personally get to know each of the 320 families who belong to the temple.

“Rabbi Schlesinger has made every effort to reach out to congregants,” Moelis said. “He texts them on their birthdays, on their anniversary, he calls upward of a dozen or two dozen congregants each week just to see how they’re doing. So this is a situation where people aren’t just coming back and seeing each other, but they’re seeing a rabbi that they very quickly have become friendly with.”

With activities returning to a more normal setting, Schlesinger said that he was anxiously anticipating his future at HERJC.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “I’m doing everything that I can to connect with people.”