Posted on July 12, 2024 by Rabbi David Katz
I am so pleased to serve as your Interim Rabbi this coming year. Rabbi Gluck and I have been friends for many years and after only two weeks I have seen how strong a leader he has been. Such a fine staff. Such high quality lay leaders. Everywhere such intelligence and such hard work.
You may wonder how an Interim Rabbi differs from a long-term Rabbi. An Interim Rabbi serves the congregation just like a long-term Rabbi – leading services, performing life cycle events, teaching, counseling, and working in partnership with lay leaders to forward the life of the synagogue. But an Interim Rabbi does more than this. He or she has special training in organizational transition because there is the extra task of setting the stage for a successful relationship with the rabbi who will follow.
To facilitate making this transition successful Interim Rabbis take special training in Temple organizational dynamics. Often they are enlisted by a congregation that has been served by one Rabbi for many years, such as TBE, so that the congregation can take a breath before it enters a new relationship, or an Interim Rabbi might come to a congregation that has suffered negative politics. The specialized coursework in conflict resolution, political analysis (power, personalities, cultural history, money, factions, etc.) makes Interim Rabbis expert in stabilizing a congregation. Whether following a Rabbi with a long tenure or stabilizing a politically fraught environment, the Interim Rabbi will wish to move congregants to view change with enthusiasm, to recognize change as an exciting opportunity.
The tenure of an Interim Rabbi is typically one year – sometimes two, if the Rabbi and lay leadership think a longer period will be useful. Temple Beth-El will be my 11th congregation as an Interim Rabbi. In Pittsburgh, Armonk, NY, Stony Brook, NY, Morristown, Baltimore, Albany and Saratoga Springs, NY, I served for one year and in Pleasanton, Ca , Syracuse and Johns Creek, Ga (just north of Atlanta) I served for two. An Interim Rabbi is not a candidate for the long-term position.
And yes, it is a bit crazy moving around so much. Finding a new position and then packing, traveling and then unpacking is stressful. But what makes it all worthwhile is meeting new people and greeting new challenges… and hopefully, to be of enough help to see the fruits of one’s labor. Life is all about comings and goings, arrivals and departures…and my life even more so.
Nancy and I now arrive in Hillsborough and we are thrilled to be a part of Temple Beth-El. Everyone we have met has been so helpful and encouraging. My expectation is that this coming year will be filled with challenges both great and small and that in the end, after joining together in prayer and study and good deeds, we will grow close and our community will thrive.
Let us look forward to what the future will bring.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi David Katz
