CBST Clergy Announced for 2010-2011
Some important and exciting news about CBST's clergy for next year.
Senior Rabbi: We are thrilled to announce that the Board of Directors has approved a new, long-term agreement with our Senior Rabbi, Sharon Kleinbaum , that will keep her at CBST for six more years. Rabbi Kleinbaum joined CBST as its first rabbi in 1992, and we look forward to celebrating her 20th Anniversary with our congregation in 2012.
Assistant Rabbi: After an extensive search, we are delighted to announce that Rabbi Rachel Weiss will become CBST's new Assistant Rabbi, beginning August 1, 2010. A graduate of Grinnell College and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Weiss is a familiar face to many of you, having served as a Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern for two years, in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Since her graduation from RRC last year, Rabbi Weiss has served as the rabbi at Congregation Am Haskalah, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Allentown, Pennsylvania. A native of Evanston, Illinois, Rabbi Weiss has worked as a hospital chaplain and a social worker, and served prior to rabbinical school as the director of the Nuestro Center for Mexican immigrant families in Chicago, where, among other things, she created a free summer camp and teen leadership program for 125 low-income, immigrant children. She also has extensive experience with Jewish children's and family education, including serving as Director of Education and Curriculum at Camp JRF, the summer camp of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, where she developed educational programs for students in grades 3-12. At CBST, Rabbi Weiss will be responsible for running all of our children's programming. She will also supervise our conversion program and our Lehrhaus Judaica, and have primary responsibility for Shabbat morning services. Rabbi Weiss will be moving to the New York area this summer together with her partner Julia Tauber and their daughter Hannah.
Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Interns: Thanks to the continued generosity of CBST member Bill Fern, we will be restoring our long-running Cooperberg-Rittmaster internship program to two interns for the coming year. Our new interns will be Yosef Goldman , a graduate of Yeshiva University who is a second-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Ari Lev Fornari , a graduate of Wesleyan University who is a second-year rabbinical student at Boston Hebrew College. Yosef is in Israel this year serving as a rabbinical intern at the Jerusalem Open House. He has previously served as a cantorial intern (yes, he's studying to be both!) at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, on the Upper West Side, and has performed as a choral soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, and Town Hall. Ari Lev, who is active in trans and queer activism, has recently worked with Trans Torah, a collective of Jewish transgender educators, to develop online resources, educational materials, innovative rituals and access to ritual facilitators for transgender Jews. He will be focusing on programming and pastoral care for the seniors in our community.
Cantorial Intern: Our new cantorial intern will be Magda Fishman , a student at the H. L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary and currently a cantorial intern at the Sutton Place Synagogue. Magda, who was born and raised in Israel, has been singing professionally for many years in Israel, the U.S., Canada and Europe, and has performed at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (She was also the lead singer of the Israeli pop group "Power Source.") She is an accomplished trumpet player who has performed with the Israel Philharmonic and the Israel Army Orchestra. She initially came to the U.S. to study at the Manhattan School of Music. Many congregants heard Magda recently at our Friday night services, when she served as a guest cantor.
Social Justice Rabbinical Intern: Thanks to a continuing grant from the Arcus Foundation, CBST will be hiring its second-ever social justice intern. He is Guy Austrian , a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University who is currently a second-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Prior to entering rabbinical school, Guy served as Director of Social Action/Social Justice at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun from 2005 to 2008, where he was the lead organizer for BJ's participation in the marriage equality campaign in New York State. He has also worked as a community organizer in Chicago, at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, where, among other things, he designed holiday programs on issues such as immigration and civil rights and led training sessions for synagogue social justice leaders. He has also led workshops and classes for Kehilat Hadar, the Jewish Funds for Justice, and AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. Guy is currently spending a year of rabbinical study in Jerusalem.
We are thrilled that these new leaders will be joining our community and bringing their considerable skills and experiences to our congregation. We are also thankful to the many talented individuals who applied for the various positions. Choosing new clergy from such a broad and impressive group of applicants is a sacred task that involves enormous commitments of time and energy. We are grateful not just to our dedicated professional staff, but also to the thoughtful and devoted congregants who served on the assistant rabbi and internship search committees. They deserve the thanks of our entire community.
We are looking forward to working with, learning from, teaching and growing with our new clergy team. We remain, of course, deeply saddened that Rabbi Ayelet Cohen will be leaving us this summer, but we know that she will go on to do great things for the Jewish people - as she has for CBST - in the years ahead. She will always remain part of our family. We hope you will join us for a farewell celebration on July 29th at our Chelsea location.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact any of us.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi
Ilene Sameth, Executive Director
Stephen E. Frank, President of the Board
