New rabbi aims to build community bridges

Sitting with Rabbi Claudio Kupchik, the new spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst, is like being with an old friend. The welcoming is warm, the conversation keeps moving and you never feel like saying goodbye.

Kupchik, 53, a native of Buenos Aires in Argentina, began his new job on Sept. 1, but he is not a stranger to the Five Towns. He came to the U.S. in 1989, the same year he was ordained, worked at The Brandeis School in Lawrence in 2009 and has lived in Woodmere for the past nine years with his wife of 15 years, Ann-Rebecca Laschever, and sons, Jacob, 14, and Simon, 10.

A soccer fan who played defender in his youth, Kupchik knows the best defense is a good offense and has begun meeting with rabbis from other synagogues and said he will meet with clergy from other religions to “build bridges.”

“One of the things is being active in the community,” said Kupchik, whose Conservative congregation is roughly 250 members. “Being a representative in the community is an important pat of the job that people don’t see. Bringing people together is a very role rabbis play.”

To underscore that sentiment and with the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur nearing, the rabbi wants to highlight the need for his congregants to understand the importance of helping their fellow Americans in distress.

“This time of the year we have to be aware of [Hurricane] Harvey and [Hurricane] Irma,” he said, In very much the same way we were affected by Sandy we have to open our hearts, our homes and our wallets to our brothers and sisters, and that’s all people, all Americans.”

For the past eight years Kupchik was the rabbi at Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn — a congregation that was greatly impacted by Sandy — and has served congregations in Staten Island, St. Catherines, Ontario, Leonia, NJ and upstate Peekskill. He simultaneously attended medical school and seminary in his native city

Kupchik speaks fluent English, Hebrew and Spanish, “I can acquit myself quite well in Italian,” he said, and can converse in German and Yiddish. The rabbi plans on using all his language skills to support the Men’s Club and Sisterhood “in anyway they want be to be involved,” he said.

“We think that Rabbi Kupchik brings to the synagogue a very big heart, a desire to get to know each congregant personally and to touch as many lives as possible with his love of Judaism and his love of people,” said Edward Edelstein, the temple’s executive and educational director.

Kupchik appreciates the “blessings” of the Five Towns — the kosher food, the schools— and acknowledges the challenges of being a Conservative congregation. “I’m confident that there are people who will enjoy what we offer,” he said.

He and his wife are expected to serve as models at the temple’s Nov. 5 fashion show. His official installation ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 8.

After 20 years, a new president
Woodmere resident Bob Fischman succeeds Richard Holland as president of Temple Beth El. Holland served for 20 years.

Fischman, 68, and his wife, Rhonnie, who have two grown children, Gregory and Risa, have been members for 27 years. “I like the people,” Fischman said, “we have warm relationships with many of the members.”

In addition to welcoming a new rabbi, Fischman said that increasing the temple’s engagement with its congregants and updating the 95-year-old synagogue’s bylaws are his immediate goals.