Rockville Centre rabbi to step down

After 37 years as the spiritual leader of Temple B'nai Sholom, the Conservative Jewish congregation of Rockville Centre, Rabbi Dr. Barry Dov Schwartz confirmed recent speculation that he will step down when his contract expires on Aug. 15. He also called for the temple to merge with a fellow Conservative congregation from Lynbrook.

“Sonia and I want to leave on a 'high' with the love and admiration we feel at this juncture of our lives,” Schwartz wrote in a letter to temple members on April 1. “Thirty-seven years is a good run! As someone remarked: 'It's a good time to leave, when so many still want you to stay.'

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach Torah and to serve God,” he continued. “Sonia and I are grateful to you for sharing your lives with us, and we shall always cherish our time together.”

Schwartz said he wanted to thank everyone who had urged him to stay on as rabbi — former officers of the temple, trustees, longtime members, young parents of Hebrew school children and the children themselves, whom he said he teaches, relates to and loves.

He said that “a vast majority” of the temple's membership of about 300 families wanted his contract to be extended, and they registered their wishes with a petition, e-mails, letters and calls. Schwartz said he was “highly flattered and overwhelmed by the numbers and enthusiasm of these heart-warming expressions of affection, which reinforce that we are indeed mishpacha [family] ...”

Speaking on behalf of the congregation's officers, Barry Hochhauser, B'nai's president, said of Schwartz, “He's touched the lives of everybody of all religions in Rockville Centre and Nassau County. He's provided spiritual guidance, teaching and leadership for over 37 years. He's held the position of rabbi of B'nai Sholom longer than anyone else in [the temple's] 103-year history. His shoes will be extremely difficult to fill.”

Hochhauser said that the synagogue established a search committee for a new rabbi in 2009, and its members are now going through the process of vetting resumes that come through its affiliate, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.