Friends,
I hope that this column
will serve well as my introduction to you, and allow me regularly to share my
thoughts with you and address your concerns as they arise. This month, I would
like to share with you a more personal version of an interview with me that
will, if it has not already, appear in the Binghamton Reporter.
I am well aware that Norwich Jewish Center is in a period of transition. I come
to you as your new rabbi after a number of years of rabbinic stability. The
congregation is also recovering both emotionally and physically from a terrible
act of vandalism that was most hurtful to all of you in the Jewish Center community.
It will be my privilege and challenge to work with you in managing these transitions
by being a good listener and a supportive counselor. As well, I will try to
offer some new perspective and suggestions for ways to address some of your
short and long range planning issues.
I was born and raised on New York City's lower east side. The child of teachers,
I am one of four children - I have two older sisters and a younger brother.
I attended twelve years of modern Orthodox day school in New York, spent some
time working and studying in Israel while in college, and graduated from SUNY
Binghamton with a BA in Judaic Studies. I earned a Master's degree in Religious
Education from the Reform Seminary, HUC-JIR in New York, and spent ten years
in doctoral studies of Hebrew Bible at JTS, the Conservative Seminary in New
York City. I have spent many years teaching Torah, Hebrew Bible and many aspects
of Judaism to teens and adults in a number of venues, including five years of
writing and teaching a Hebrew Bible curriculum in two Schechter High Schools
in the New York City area. I am currently a fourth year rabbinical student at
the Academy of the Jewish Religion in Riverdale, NY. I have two sons; Jonah
is 17 and a junior in high school, and Adam is 21 and a junior in college.
I hope that it will become clear to each of you as our relationship develops
that my approach is to listen carefully and to tend with compassion. I am not
at the synagogue to be the star or center of attention. My idea of being a rabbi
is to provide warm and gentle support after listening carefully to learn what
kind of support is needed. I hope that I can serve you as your rabbi in the
ways that are important to you.
I would like to say a few words about my view of today's Judaism. I believe
that modern Judaism is moving more and more into a trans-denominational or post-denominational
period, where many Jews simply identify as Jewish rather than as reform or conservative
or a member of some other specific branch of the tree. In particular the lines
between the Reform and Conservative movements in America continue to blur more
and more, as Reform moves closer to the right, becoming more traditional, and
Conservative steps more to the left with its acceptance, at last, of gays and
lesbians into the Conservative seminary. Further, the growth of the Jewish renewal
movement informs both my rabbinate and practice as a Jew significantly, with
its re-introduction of mindfulness practices such as meditation into Jewish
ritual. It is in part for these reasons that I was attracted to AJR, a transdenominational
Seminary, where I could identify myself as simply a Rabbi, rather than a Reform
or Conservative Rabbi.
I am looking forward to spending Shabbat with you on September 12 and 13. Although
I am unable to be with you for the High Holidays, I am pleased that my friend
and former colleague at Schechter, Rabbi Hayyim Handler, will be conducting
High Holiday Services for the congregation. I am comfortable that he will bring
much kindness and healing to the congregation.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year of creating relationships with all of you, and being your partner in developing your vision of the future of Norwich Jewish Center.
L'shalom,
Molly Karp