By Howard Goldstein
The synagogue functioned under a guest rabbi, Amos Miller, from the fall of 2001 to the New Year, when Rabbi Gorman took up the helm officially on Jan. 2.
"This is a wonderful community," Gorman said. "I'm very happy to be here."
Gorman, 33, grew up in Norfolk, Va. He said that his inner calling to the rabbinate came while he studied at SUNY Buffalo.
"It finally consolidated in college. Of course, you can't pin down an exact moment," he said.
Gorman was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City as a Conservative Rabbi in May 1998.
From rabbinical school, Gorman's life took an interesting turn -- the military. Gorman served as a U.S. Navy chaplain and began active duty in August 1998. He followed in the footsteps of his father, who was also a Navy man.
Serving for three years in Hawaii, followed by a year and a half at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Gorman tended the small Jewish flock that served on the seas. He also diligently served people of other faiths. Gorman remembers a call from a gentile airman who needed to speak to a religious figure and, for some reason, demanded Rabbi Gorman.
"I was there for all our servicemen," he said.
But Gorman's life then turned to family and the need to put his young son in Jewish Day School.
His wife, Jennifer, also a rabbi who serves on faculty at the Brandeis School in Lawrence, grew up in Merrick.
Jennifer's parents still live in Merrick, and this, coupled with the Jewish community of the Bellmore Jewish Center, makes Bellmore "a perfect area" for Gorman to have set up shop as rabbi.
"I'm excited about the prospects here. This is a fantastic congregation, and I look forward to contributing to the chain of Jewish tradition in Bellmore," he said.
Gorman is worried about the integrity of that chain, as the rate of Jewish intermarriage is now high. It was a concern for him in the Navy as young Jewish men, far from home, found themselves far from a Jewish community.
"I always wanted to instill Jewish identity in the Jewish sailors. And I am happy to say that one sailor is now attending seminary; another is considering it," he said.
Gorman's immediate goals in Bellmore include increasing education programs and the center's presence in the community, as well as the community's presence in the center.
"I'm excited," he said. "We have some amazing people at the Bellmore Jewish Center, great services, and we are poised for a great deal of growth. As our temple president says, good things happen in shul!"
