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Bergen County is my home. I grew up in Cresskill in the 50s and 60s when much of Bergen County was rather rural. Cresskill's "downtown" had only two blocks of stores. There were only two schools and one Little League field. The Jewish population was small. Without a doubt, the most important institution in my life was my synagogue, Temple Beth El in Closter. Here I connected with other Jews (including my wife, Barbara) and established linkages with the broader Jewish world. My fledgling Jewish education gave me insight into the Jewish intellectual world as well.
The synagogue also connected me with Rabbi Leonard Kravitz, who was to become my teacher and role model. Rabbi Kravitz served as my congregational rabbi and later as my professor and thesis advisor at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It was through my relationship with Rabbi Kravitz that I came to love Jewish intellectual life and the role of the rabbi.
My years at Rutgers expanded my view of the world. I majored in history, studied Hebrew and ultimately decided to become a rabbi. I was motivated by a love of Jewish life and history and a belief that the role of rabbi would provide me with a challenging and rewarding career. I was fascinated by all the skills a rabbi had to master in order to function professionally. After thirty years of rabbinic service to the Jewish community, my love of Jewish life has not diminished.
I have served several Jewish communities since my ordination. First, I served as an Assistant Rabbi at a large synagogue in Hollywood, Florida. I was the principal of its religious school and coordinated the youth program. After two years, I moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, a warm, charming one-synagogue community. Barbara and I established relationships with congregants that still endure. After seven years, we moved to Columbia, Missouri where I was the Hillel Director at the University of Missouri, the congregational rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom and an instructor of Judaica in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Missouri. While in Columbia, Barbara earned her PhD in Educational Technology and now is an assistant professor at Brooklyn College. Dan and Michael, our children, grew up in Columbia. Now Dan lives in NYC and works as a scenic on movie sets; Michael is now an orthodox rabbi living in England. Barbara and I moved back to Bergen County when I began to work as the rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in Teaneck in 1997.
During the past 12 years I have been active in community life. I have served as the President of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis, Vice President of the Teaneck Clergy Council and President of the New Jersey Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. I have a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post-Graduate Center for Mental Health in NYC and a Masters degree in Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University.
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