A Tale of Two Temples

Actually, this is a tale not of two temples but of one temple in two distinct phases of its life, and it has a bearing on the committee’s thinking about the rabbinic candidates we’re beginning to meet and interview.

If you think back to the 2007–2008 year, even before our previous rabbinic search, our congregation was transitioning from the retirement of Rabbi Emily Lipof, now our Rabbi Emerita, who had served for 18 years; the retirement of our executive director, Dottie Berman, who had served for 20 years; and the departure of Cantor Robbie Solomon, who had served for 14 years. Cantor Randall Schloss had recently been hired to be our new cantor, and Shari Churwin was settling in as our education director, after having served as curriculum director since 1995. Given all this, the search committee four years ago felt it was important to engage a rabbi who brought significant experience in a large, well-established congregation.

Today, we are in a much stronger position, and we appreciate the positive contributions made by Rabbi Franken over the past three years. We have a growing and vibrant congregation and an established clergy and administrative team in place. Cantor Schloss has been with us for nearly four years, bringing not only a great voice, but also his wisdom, talent and warmth to our community. He’s a versatile, experienced member of the clergy, and he’s deeply involved in – or takes a leadership role in – learning at all levels, directing the bar/bat mitzvah program, officiating at all life-cycle events, serving our community as pastor, caring for those in need, shaping the spiritual direction of our sacred community in collaboration with the Ritual and Religious Practices Committee, and being an active contributor to the Membership Committee, the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee. In addition, he has built up the music and worship program with energy and imagination.

Shari Churwin is doing a wonderful job as education director, presiding over a school that is growing once again and has been completely renovated to include the spectacular Trust Center for Early Education. The temple administration is in the very capable hands of David Brody, our executive director. In addition, participation in many kinds of temple activities by congregants has increased, new members have joined and the congregation’s finances are being overseen by a board that takes its fiscal responsibilities very seriously. And it doesn’t hurt that the worst of the global financial downturn seems to be behind us.

As the current Rabbinic Planning and Search Committee considers candidates for the position of rabbi that will be open on July 1, it is cognizant of the health and stability of the congregation and its leadership. We certainly are looking for candidates with excellent credentials and experience, as well as personal warmth and leadership qualities, but we now envision this candidate becoming part of a very well-functioning congregational leadership structure that already includes experienced professionals. That gives us significant flexibility: We can consider candidates with a wide range of backgrounds and experience – we don't have to limit ourselves to looking at seasoned rabbis in large established congregations.

Last week the committee conducted a few preliminary telephone interviews, and in the coming weeks we will be holding further discussions with some of the most promising candidates. They bring an array of impresive skills and ideas, so the interviews have all been fascinating. We’re looking forward to meeting some of the candidates in person.

How to Conduct a Rabbinic Search in Six Easy Steps

Members of the TOS Rabbinic Planning and Search Committee are often asked what a rabbinic search entails. Is it like a corporate candidate search? An academic search? Why does it take months and months? I’ll try to answer those questions, and in the process I’ll give an update on where the committee is in the search at this moment. Apologies up front for the length of this post!

My title for this post isn’t meant to be serious. None of the steps in conducting a rabbinic search are easy. While a rabbinic search is enjoyable on many levels – fascinating and eye-opening – every step involves a great deal of thought and preparation.

The committee’s first step, of course, was to establish priorities. Fortunately, extensive groundwork for this search was laid three years ago when the TOS lay leadership, drawing on broad congregational input, developed a Strategic Plan for the synagogue and a vision of what we want to be as a congregation. In addition, the prior rabbinic search committee sought the input of all members of the TOS community regarding the qualities they were looking for in a rabbi. This input was sought through a variety of means, including a survey, a dedicated search-committee email account, and several community meetings. The present-day search committee continues to draw on that rich source of information.

The community has made it clear that a well-rounded, full-time rabbi who has strong credentials and leadership capabilities – and who is an excellent fit for our congregation – is essential to the well-being of TOS. It’s the sense of the community that, if at all possible, we should engage such a rabbi to start July 1 of this year. The committee agreed that we won’t compromise on the quality of our selection based on time constraints. If we’re unable to find a superb candidate in that time frame, we will seek to find an excellent interim rabbi while the search for a longer-term rabbi continues.

We realize that the TOS community and its views are constantly changing, so I’d like to emphasize that committee members, who broadly represent the congregation, continue to be available to hear from and talk with people so that we can build on our understanding of the congregation’s views about the role of the rabbi and the types of candidates we should be considering. You can contact the search committee any time at searchcommittee@ohabei.org. The committee is actively seeking community input into the process and is planning to make information available to the congregation in a variety of formats. Our intention is to keep this important process as transparent as possible.

The second step of the process was to review our options. (If you’re interested in learning about the alphabet soup of organizations involved in the very complex rabbinic-placement process, you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know, and then some, at the end of this post.) Next was step three: We determined that the only realistic option for meeting our goal of engaging a fully qualified rabbi by July 1 was to work with the Academy for Jewish Religion and Hebrew College to identify candidates among their graduates. This is because the placement process for these two institutions is underway now, whereas the “peak season” for placement of candidates affiliated with Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis took place some time ago (most candidates who are affiliated with the latter two organizations and were seeking pulpits for July 1 have already been placed).

Step four: We contacted these organizations and received a number of promising résumés and other written materials from candidates. Step five was reviewing the candidates’ materials so that we could determine which candidates we wanted to interview by phone. Step six will come next week, when we conduct some of those preliminary screening interviews. We’ll keep you informed as the process continues, within the bounds of maintaining confidentiality.

So, yes, a rabbinic search is a bit like a corporate search, in that we are looking for a highly accomplished professional and a leader, and, yes, it’s a bit like an academic search, in that there are specified educational requirements as well as a calendar that must be adhered to. But at the same time, it’s unlike both, in that we are looking for something beyond leadership and credentials – a candidate who will be an excellent fit for our thriving TOS “family.”

More soon as the search proceeds…

Andy O’Connell

Rabbinic Planning and Search Committee member and Board member

Alphabet Soup

There are three main educational institutions whose graduates become rabbis for Reform congregations: The Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC–JIR), which has three U.S. campuses (New York, LA, Cincinnati) and one in Jerusalem; the nondenominational Academy for Jewish Religion (aka AJR – Rabbi Emerita Emily Lipof’s alma mater), in New York; and Hebrew College, located in Newton, Mass. After they leave school, rabbis tend to maintain their affiliations with the schools where they trained. Rabbis who attended the HUC–JIR generally become members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), a worldwide association that has established a number of rules governing searches involving its members. (The CCAR admits ordained rabbis who have not been trained at HUC–JIR, but the process is not as simple.)

The CCAR stipulates that once a synagogue engages with it to conduct a search for a CCAR member, the synagogue may not engage with candidates outside that organization. Furthermore, the normal CCAR process involves a search schedule under which synagogues begin searching soon after the High Holy Days to fill positions some nine months later. (So, for example, to search for a candidate to fill a position that will be open July 1, 2012, a synagogue begins its search with the CCAR after the High Holy Days in the fall of 2011.) To participate in a CCAR search, a synagogue must complete an application that includes information about its size and mission. A similar set of rules, with a shorter search schedule, applies to rabbis-in-training who are still in school at the HUC–JIR. Neither the Academy for Jewish Religion nor Hebrew College imposes such rules on synagogues considering their graduates.