The Kind of Rabbi I Am!
Rabbi Alan Lefkowitz
I am often asked, “What kind of a Rabbi are you? Are you Conservative or Reform or what?”
These days, in the spirit of taking an honest spiritual accounting of my life, or in Hebrew cheshbon ha-nefesh, I consider myself to be eclectic and inclusive. I think about bringing relevancy to our sacred traditions by asking what is important to Jews in their lives, and how I can best serve today’s Jewish community. My role is to serve all Jews, by bringing some sense of holiness through Judaism.
I often think of myself as a student of the rabbi Kris Kringle from the movie, Miracle on 34th Street, where rabbi Kringle offers: “We do not have it here at Macy’s, but Gimbel’s does!” I am a rabbi who helps our people find their way.
As a Jewish leader or spiritual guide, I use whatever I think is important, from whatever source: Jewish and even non-Jewish sources that make sense in reaching out to Jews in this Post-Holocaust, modern age, so that together we can make a usable, user-friendly, living Judaism.
I am engaged in the question of how I help myself and others to find God. I look for God in the world, in my life, in my quiet moments, and in my occasional ecstasies.
It is my hope that we can bring our evolving and ever-changing Judaism/Yiddishkeit with us out into our lives, into our daily interactions, and into how we respond to others and the world.
It is my desire to serve a diverse group of people who share their beliefs, and who honor each other’s differences by listening. I appreciate those who wrestle with God (after all, Israel means “God Wrestlers”) and with ideas, and with their destiny. That is being Jewish and worldly to me! Please join me on this sacred journey.
TEMPLE BETH TORAH 