Dear Congregants:
While we continue to adjust to so many uncertainties in our daily lives, I am delighted to bring you some exciting news for the future. As you remember, just a few short months ago, we decided to proceed with a two-pronged approach to hiring new leadership for our congregation – we would seek a temporary rabbi for the coming year, with the goal of hiring a permanent rabbi to join us in July 2021.
We are so pleased to announce that Rabbi Richard Address will serve our beloved congregation as our visiting rabbi, beginning July 2020. Rabbi Address is the Founder and Director of
www.jewishsacredaging.com
. He served for over three decades on the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism and was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972
and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
Rabbi Address will support our congregation on a part-time basis until July 2021, when we hope to have our next full-time rabbi. We believe Rabbi Address will help sustain us during the coming year by working with Cantor Barry during our search for our permanent rabbi. Rabbi Address will engage our congregation in worship, education and rabbinic guidance in part through visits to Jacksonville and in part long-distance from his homes in West Palm Beach and Philadelphia. Rabbi Address will lead our worship for the 2020 High Holiday services, including Sukkot and Simchat Torah, and for Friday evening and Saturday morning Shabbat services at least once a month following the High Holiday season, in conjunction with our own Cantor Barry. When in Jacksonville, Rabbi Address will also lead Saturday morning Torah study. Rabbi Address will be available to our congregation during weekly office hours (both in person and virtually) for pre-marital counseling, pastoral care, conversion conversations, strategic planning discussions and similar duties.
Your Temple leadership and the Search Committee for our visiting rabbi are confident that you will enjoy getting to know Rabbi Address as much as we have.
Please plan to attend the Temple Annual Meeting on May 26 at 7 p.m. (via Zoom) for an opportunity to meet Rabbi Address and to vote to ratify his engagement by Temple.
David Kaufman
Temple President
Miriam Greenhut
Rabbinic Search Committee Co-Chair
Isabel Balotin
Rabbinic Search Committee Co-Chair
