Temple Israel in Lawrence welcomes new rabbi

Newspaper publisher Horace Greeley’s advice to young men in the 19th century was to go west.

Rabbi Erik Uriarte, or Rabbi Erik, as he likes to be called, has come east from his origins in California, his military service in Okinawa, Japan, and Korea, and from his most recent religious posting in Billings, Mont., to be the interim rabbi for Temple Israel of Lawrence.

Uriarte, 42, was ordained as a Reform rabbi in May after completing his studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. He came east with his wife, Jenna, more than 2,000 miles from Congregation Beth Aaron in Billings, where he was a student rabbi and the synagogue’s director of religious programming.

Coming to Temple Israel was serendipitous, because Uriarte initially didn’t have the temple on his short list, and it filed its application with the Central Council of American Rabbis later than usual.

“It was this very good combination of here is a synagogue that I think I would mesh very well with, that I could get some good experience with, that I could work with, that I could bring my own skills and attributes,” Uriarte said, “but also the one thing that really jumped out at me that was great was all of the history here and all of the experience here.”

He noted that his predecessor, Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, was given emeritus status, and though Rosenbaum is now at Temple Israel of New Rochelle, the senior spiritual leader is just an email, phone call or text away for advice.

Temple Israel was founded 114 years ago in Far Rockaway and moved to Lawrence in 1931.

Calling Uriarte “empathetic and patient and deliberate in his choice of words, Doug Segan, the temple’s president, explained why the board chose him. “Rabbi Erik is a bright and kind gentleman with a passion for teaching,” Segan said. “He has a compelling life story. Rabbi Erik listens with focus, caring and curiosity. His passion for and understanding of Judaism and Jewish history is uplifting and inspiring.”

Finding his Jewish identity
Uriarte is Jewish by birth. His father fled Nicaragua as a 10-year-old, and Erik’s grandmother and her family left Germany in the late 1930s. Growing up, he attended Steven Wise Temple, in Los Angeles, a large Reform temple and school, from nursery to third grade, but was not bar mitvahed. “The joke I always make is my mother and father were hippies in the ’60s, so they had no use for organized anything, alone religion,” he said.

In the military, Uriarte realized he needed a community, and began thinking of community building, which has become the essence of his rabbinical philosophy. “It was really the military where I reconnected with my Jewish identity and what that meant to me,” he said, “and I think that was perfect, because I started attending services on Okinawa, Japan.”

While other Marines were going to church on Sunday and asking Uriarte to attend, he thought, “Yes, I really do need a community here,” he said. “I really need something from home, something of who I am to build a community that is not explicitly the military, but that has the idea. Every single Friday night for two years of my life that I was in Okinawa that I could, I walked to synagogue for Friday-night services.”

The path to a Jewish community was led by a Conservative Navy chaplain, Mitchell Schranz, who Uriarte said was very welcoming and “showed me the very unique way that rabbis in the military operate.” Military rabbis have to inclusive and minister to all Jewish sects, and use a military prayer book approved for use by the Conservative and Reform movements and one of the major Orthodox Jewish bodies in the U.S.

“That was really my introduction to my Jewish identity, and it was always about community,” Uriarte said. “Understanding that, no matter where I am in the world, if I meet another Marine, there is this instant connection.” He snapped his fingers. “But from that, there was this realization that no matter where I am in the world, if I meet another Jewish person, there is that instant connection.”

Those connections led him to become a rabbi. “That continues to be one of my main driving goals as being a rabbi,” he said.” How do I build community?”

He began with a host of experiences in Los Angeles and Yakima, Wash. In Billings he was the leader of a 55-household congregation that he described as “the only game in town.” (Montana’s Jewish population ranks 46th in the nation.)

Aiming to build unity
Now, albeit with a one-year contract, Uriarte is among one of the highest concentrations of Jews in the country. While the pastrami is “amazing” and “New York bagels are the best,” he says, there is a serious side to being a spiritual leader, with all the social issues swirling around institutions and organizations.

“When talking about inclusion, and the inclusion that Temple Israel of Lawrence is wanting to make,” he said, referring to including people of different ethnic groups and sexual orientations, “what we are going to need to do is challenge our assumptions, so they fit the very sincere goals about them, and be willing to be wrong.”

Uriarte aims to get involved in the community and the surrounding areas as well. “I am definitely going to be doing outreach to communities with other Jewish groups, and not just within the Five Towns area,” he said. “One of the few shining lights of this pandemic it’s that it has forced us to be adaptable to new ways of building and fostering a community in continuing with our Jewish practices, whatever they may be, and coming together.”

Rabbi Rosenbaum offered his successor some advice. “Show in material ways that you are dedicated to the congregation and each member of the congregation, and that under all circumstances be present and accounted for,” Rosenbaum said. “Learn the unique customs of your community and its mode of worship. This shows respect for the sacred.”