BZBI’s 2024 Purim block party in Philadelphia (Photo by Julia Pollock)
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Center City, is set to begin the process of searching for a new senior rabbi. This comes after the departure of longtime spiritual leader Rabbi Abe Friedman, who recently moved to Baltimore to take on a new position.
The search will officially begin after the High Holidays, following the guidelines of the Rabbinical Assembly for hiring a new rabbi.
“Currently, we are gearing up for a bunch of listening sessions so that we can hear feedback from the community before we start the search for what they’re looking for [in a new head rabbi],” said Daniel Cohen, board president of Beth Zion-Beth Israel, whose role is to nominate congregants to the search committee.
Cohen told the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent that they will have a search committee made up of eight to 10 different members to represent the different demographics within the congregation. Cohen said congregants will also have other opportunities to be involved in the selection process. As part of the search, each candidate will participate in Shabbat visits, including Friday night dinners and services. These visits will give candidates a chance to lead and connect with members of the community, and congregants will get a chance to interact with potential new leaders.
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel serves about 400 member households, according to Cohen.
“We have many members who are regular Shabbat-goers and are fairly traditional in their observance of Judaism,” Cohen said. “We have others for which their commitment to social action and tikkun olam is what their connection to Judaism and the synagogue experience is.”
When the time comes for Beth Zion-Beth Israel to officially launch its search for a new senior rabbi, the Rabbinical Assembly guidelines lay out different criteria for posting new roles on one of its job boards. A congregation can create an account and post a job as long as it is part of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Rabbinical Assembly has three types of job boards that Conservative synagogues can go to for their rabbi search. Those are Pulpit/Congregation, Organization/Institution and Freelance/Short-Term.
According to the Rabbinical Assembly, the Pulpit/Congregation job board is for full-time and part-time clergy positions at USCJ congregations.
Once a formal search is launched, Cohen said Beth Zion-Beth Israel candidates can apply through early November and come into the synagogue for in-person interviews in January and February. Cohen said they hope to have a decision finalized in April, when the candidate will be announced to the community.
Cohen added that they are looking for a rabbi with scholarly characteristics, but that it will be hard to know what to look for until they have found it.
“It’s not so much a checklist of criteria,” Cohen said. “[A new rabbi] should bring a certain level of warmth and experience, and that’s a very hard thing to actually measure in a lot of ways, but you know it when you see it.”
In the meantime, Beth Zion-Beth Israel is being led by Rabbi Kenneth Stern, who is serving as an interim rabbi for the congregation. Stern and his family live in Center City and have been members for about a year.
Cohen said that the interim rabbi position is intended to help guide the synagogue through this transition period. As Temple Beth-Zion Beth Israel moves through this change, its leadership is focused on finding a rabbi who can engage with the community and expand the congregation’s reach.
“Philadelphia vies for attention between New York and D.C. For where we’re situated geographically, we feel some of that struggle as well for our synagogue identity with BZBI,” said Cohen. “There are many well-known congregations in New York and in D.C., and we feel like our profile could be a little bit higher. One of my aspirations would be a rabbi who can put us on the map of East Coast vibrant synagogues. That would be something I’d love to see.”