By:LARRY MAIER
In troubled times, Charles Klein of Congregation Ohr Torah continues to provide comfort
During a recent sermon, Rabbi Charles Klein asked his congregation to consider how they used to answer the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" When Klein was a child growing up in Queens, he and his friends would say they wanted to be firemen or policemen. As they got older, most changed their minds. "That's kid's stuff," they would say.
Today, in the wake of Sept. 11, Klein says that if you ask people young and old what they want to be when they grow up, they're likely to say firefighter or police officer.
"It's because of that selflessness, that dedication, that commitment that these men and women showed us all," said Klein, 50, who believes Sept. 11 must serve as a wake-up call for what is truly important in life. "There has got to be a new sense of commitment to our fellow human beings," he said.
Klein is clearly a man who practices what he preaches. He's been rabbi of the Merrick Jewish Center, Congregation Ohr Torah, for 23 years, preaching, teaching and counseling more than 700 families.
For all his excellent work, Klein was honored as Rabbi of the Year by the New York Board of Rabbis during an Oct. 24 ceremony at the Merrick Jewish Center, and he was awarded the prestigious Maria and Joel Finkle Prize. The award recognizes Klein's accomplishments within his congregation and the community at large. Klein said he was pleasantly surprised to be nominated for the Finkle Prize and grateful to receive it.
"There's no honor that a rabbi in this part of the country would want more," Klein said.
SH: Guide in the dark
Klein said he became interested in the rabbinate while studying Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City in 1977. Klein later earned a master's degree in social work from Columbia University.
Klein feels a closeness with Jewish life, community and traditions. His choice to become a rabbi stemmed from a desire to live a life of faith and to make a difference.
"This is what I wanted to do with my life," said Klein. "This is what I needed to do to live a life that mattered to me."
His vocation has mattered to many other people as well, perhaps never more so than now, as people struggle to make sense of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Klein said that, since the attacks, he and clergy members from throughout the Merricks have worked overtime to comfort their congregations. "We need to be able to offer people some light, some sort of hope and faith by which they can guide their lives in these very unsettling times," Klein said. But it's not easy. Somewhere along the line, Klein said, many people's priorities and goals got confused. Klein hopes that Sept. 11 has refocused them.
"Life is not who you can get out in front of anymore," said the rabbi. "Life is really about who you are walking with." It's a message that Klein believes people should have heeded all along, but one that resonates strongly now.
"Sept. 11 was the great equalizer," Klein continued. "It showed us that we are all the same, that we are all frail human beings living in a precarious world."
That includes rabbis. Klein said he has been able to turn to his congregation and family for comfort and support since the attacks.
SH: His sources of strength
Rabbi Klein is married to Betty, and the couple have four children, Josh, 26, married to Sharon; Barry, 23, married to Ariel; Naomi, 21; and Avram, 17.
Klein has also turned to his fellow rabbis and the Bible and other religious literature. And, of course, Klein believes that now more than ever, people should turn to God, for comfort, guidance and strength.
"If we can't turn to God, then I'm in the wrong business," he said.
