By Jennifer Marino
Gruber, 48, is the senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio, where he has been since 1997. He has many credentials under his belt, including serving on the Rabbinic Advisory Board of the Jewish Fund for Justice and serving as an adjunct member of the faculty at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for the Rabbinic Residency Program. Since 1995, he has been on the steering committee for the Department of Jewish Family Concerns.
Central's current spiritual leader, Rabbi Julian I. Cook, will be moving to a congregation in Denver, Co. in June.
He's an enthusiastic person, said Sheila Rosenberg, Central's administrator, of Gruber. She got to know the rabbi during his time with the Westbury Community Reform Temple. I'm sure he'll bring energy to the congregation.
An area of interest for Rabbi Gruber is the inclusion of people with disabilities and special needs. He emphasizes the specific spiritual needs of these people. He also understands the practical daily needs of the disabled and applauds Central Synagogue's plans to install an elevator. The congregation is already doing a good job, he said.
Specific plans are not yet part of Gruber's agenda for Central Synagogue. The first thing is to get to know the congregation. I want to care for the people and have them care for me and then we can embark on new ventures together, he said.
His first service will be July 5.
Gruber will be moving to Rockville Centre with his wife, Renee, and their three children. Shai, 17, will be off to college, Micah, 15, will attend South Side High School, and Ayal, 11, will go to South Side Middle School.
The rabbi is already a fan of the village. [Rockville Centre] affords all the advantages of being in suburban New York, but it feels like a little enclave rather than suburban sprawl, he said.
The Grubers are all soccer fans and the rabbi is a licensed soccer coach. He enjoys camping, canoeing and cooking. Gruber even wrote a syndicated vegetarian cooking column for about four years. Occasionally, he still contributes articles and recipes to a local Dayton Jewish newspaper as the only non-professional-chef contributor.
Rabbi Gruber has an undergraduate degree in Sociology, magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA and a masters degree in philosophy with a concentration in Jewish ethics from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. In 1981, he was ordained a rabbi by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
