By Jeff Lipton
Temple Israel of Lawrence's two-year search for a rabbi has ended and temple officials had to look no further than their own backyard.
Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, 52, a resident of North Woodmere for 25 years, has been chosen to lead the reform congregation. He will assume the post as the spiritual leader of the temple on July 1.
It's a wonderful opportunity, serving people in the community that I love, he said. This has always been a vibrant and dynamic community and Jewish community. And in many ways for the past quarter century and before set the agenda for American Jewry.
I'm excited about the diversity in the community. I built my rabbinic career upon working with rabbis from all streams of Judaism.
Temple Israel has been seeking a spiritual leader since Rabbi Brooks Susman left for a position in a New Jersey temple about two years ago. Rabbi Allen Kaplan served as interim rabbi, and when he left last summer, Rabbi Emeritus Joel Zion returned with the help of Rabbi Robert Lehman to fill in until a new rabbi was found.
There are very few rabbis around, said Michael Gold, a member of the Temple Israel of Lawrence Board of Trustees. I'm very excited about Rabbi Rosenbaum. He's a very dynamic speaker and dynamic thinker. He will generate excitement in the temple and bring new members in.
Gold added that Rabbi Rosenbaum is big on social activism, which has been a top priority of the temple.
Rosenbaum has been interim rabbi of Temple Israel of Jamaica Estates for the past two years. He was assistant rabbi of Temple Israel of Lawrence from 1977-80 when Joel Zion was the rabbi. He said under Zion his rabbinic career was shaped in its formative years.
I learned from Rabbi Zion to be available and accessible to people and one of the most important obligations is to be there in times of joy and sorrow.
He also taught me to have respect for the pulpit and to have appreciation for the congregants who are sitting in the pews.
Rosenbaum also was the director of education for the Temple Israel of Lawrence religious school during those three years.
He said Temple Israel of Lawrence has a congregation that is very much on the cutting-edge. Part of the reality is finding the right match, someone who appreciates and understands the community and sees it as a sacred trust.
His chief priority will be to become acquainted with the individual members of the congregation, as well as the children of the religious school and be a presence in the religious school classes. He said he will work closely with the committees and staffs of the Nursery School and Religious School so students will come to feel that he is their rabbi as well as their parents' rabbi. In addition, he will strive to revitalize the high school and youth programs through creative programming and one-on-one outreach and will initiate programs in which young people feel a sense of ownership involving temple, community and world Jewry.
His social activism included The Argentine Relief Project, which through the North American Board of Rabbis, helped raise money for Passover meals for Jews in Buenos Aires.
The challenge of being a rabbi of a reform congregation in the Five Towns, where there are a large number of orthodox synagogues, is multi-faceted, he said. He said he plans to work closely with the entire rabbinic community of the Five Towns for the benefit of the entire community.
First, we have to reach out to all segments of the Jewish community, he said. We are one people who share the same faith and the same fate. The challenge is to work together to strengthen Jewish life in the community.
He wants to reach out to those who are unaffiliated with a synagogue and transmit to them a welcome sign, because no Jew should be spiritually homeless and to introduce to them the importance and vitality and authenticity of reform Judaism.
The level of one's religious devotion is not dictated by the branch of Judaism they belong to. The challenge is to strengthen reform Judaism and instill a sense of pride in reform Jews in the Five Towns.
