It is my pleasure to welcome Rabbi Deborah Hirsch to Temple Israel as interim rabbi for the next year.
Rabbi Hirsch has extensive experience shepherding congregations like ours through periods of change. After 18 years as a permanent congregational rabbi, Rabbi Hirsch spent 9 years at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) overseeing regional operations, before shifting her focus to assisting congregations like ours through periods of transition. Most recently she comes to us from The Village Temple in Manhattan though, as a New Rochelle resident and step-parent of one of our congregants, she is no stranger to Temple Israel. As you may have heard in her video check-in yesterday, she hit the ground running. Her first two days have been full of meetings with staff, clergy, committee heads, and lay leadership.
Tomorrow evening’s Shabbat service was to be our first opportunity to properly welcome Rabbi Hirsch to Temple Israel as a community; however, we have been asked to participate in Friday’s “Momentum March” in New Rochelle. The purpose of the march is to “maintain the recent tangible progress made in efforts to eliminate racism.” The Board of Trustees, in consultation with Rabbi Hirsch and Cantor Schloss, feels this is an important opportunity for the Jewish community to come together with one voice in support of our neighbors. Beth El and Young Israel will likewise participate in the march.
For this reason we will delay the start time of Shabbat services and postpone the meet-and-greets we had anticipated holding prior to the service.
Tomorrow’s services will begin at 7:30 pm
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My thanks to Cantor Schloss and Rabbi Hirsch for their flexibility in accommodating this community event and their leadership in encouraging our participation.
Details of the march are included below. Masks and social distancing are a must! Please stay safe.
