Posted on July 1, 2025 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear Temple Beth-El,
Thank you for my all-time warmest welcome. It has me—to use what has seemingly, and quite unintentionally on my part, become the word of the moment—totally stoked.
Sitting at the desk where my predecessor, Rabbi Arnie Gluck, built a monumentally successful rabbinate is humbling. Rabbi Gluck’s successes in community building, on which I hope to build, were not his alone. They came from decades-long partnerships between rabbi and colleagues, between staff and lay leaders, and between leadership and membership. As I sit in my desk chair I feel the power of all that togetherness as though it were exuding from the walls.
Looking ahead is hard at the moment—it’s difficult to see past all the administrative hoops that need jumping through and the boxes yet to be unpacked in my basement. Still, there have been moments that felt like, to coin the phrase the rabbis use in describing Shabbat, “a taste of the World to Come.” I spent time singing with Cantor Wallach and Henry Nerenberg and could not stop smiling both during and after. I was greeted by Melissa Pyle and Amy Rubin in the office and got the kind of hugs emblematic of the Torah of Love at the heart of all we do. Michael Einiger and Andrea Dean brought me a Diet Coke bottle with my name on it, and Lisa Friedman brought our whole staff team delicious pastries to start our first morning together off right. From Andrea Bradley to Jeff Resnick, from Steve and Elayne Weitz to Arthur Roswell and Frank Derby, to all our Brit Mitzvah families to so many others, TBE’s membership and leadership have all embodied its stated values and vision.
I have big dreams for us. I know that our community will sing beautifully together, and celebrate joyously together. I know we will pray meaningfully together and eat copiously together. I know that we will support each other when grief rears its head, and I know that we will mark the heaviest days together with reverence and awe. I know that we will experiment with new rituals together and try new programs together. You’ve caught my drift—every ambition I have for our community, I know is only possible together. Community is the word, and I could not be more honored that you’ve given me the sacred task of helping lead ours.
I’ll see you soon, I’m sure, whether on Shabbat, or at some meet-and-greet event or committee meeting. Until then, all I have is my immense gratitude, and deepest confidence in the joy, growth, and success that await us.
Together at last,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
