If you attended our Congregation Annual Meeting in June, read Lisa Eizen’s — our immediate past synagogue President — recent Kesher article, or perhaps attended one of our TGIShabbat Friday night services in May, would have encountered the following news: the Society Hill Synagogue lay leadership and I reached an agreement for me to continue serving this community as Rabbi for the next ten years.
This is no small thing. To name just a couple of examples, it means that Caroline’s and my daughters, Lila, 7, and Nina, 4, both of whom had their baby namings in this congregation (Caroline and I were also married here), will become B’not Mitzvah here.
Think of all that has transpired in the last ten years: ten years ago, the President of the United States was Barack Obama. The United States has had two national elections since then; Israel has had five. We came together to grieve over the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue; our lives were turned upside down through a global pandemic; there was an assault on our Capitol; and our world has been marked by war, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to the massacre of October 7, 2023, in Israel, to subsequent wars in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and throughout the region.
Ten years is a long time to experience life together; to invest in community together; to strengthen our collective capacities to respond, through the rhythms, teachings, and communal connections of Jewish life, to the world around us.
Over the course of the last ten years — especially over the last five — the Society Hill Synagogue community has grown dramatically, from something like 270 households just before the pandemic to 430 households today. People need community; people are buoyed by the seemingly eternal wellspring offered through engaging with Jewish community, the Jewish story, Jewish teachings, and Jewish ritual life. At Society Hill Synagogue, we’ve sought to foster a space where people can come to explore their relationship to these Jewish resources — without judgment or presumption, with onramps for people to find their way in through gentle invitations to prayer, to study, to gatherings, and to connections, without expectations that all of the above will feel relevant for all people at all times.
People seem to be responding: finding friendships with each other at a Kiddush lunch on Saturday mornings or an Oneg dinner on Friday nights; through an adult education class or packing food with our Food Insecurity initiative; through our Young Families Shabbatot or our Triple Chai (54+) gatherings and connections. In a chapter of history where the possibility of feeling isolation is increasing, people are finding that immersing themselves in Jewish community in spaces like Society Hill Synagogue can be a salve for the soul. I’m gratified by the opportunity to continue serving this community.
Those who know me know that my background has been nothing short of peripatetic. I gave up trying to list the addresses I’d called home when I reached 13 different ones by the age of 13. These childhood migrations must have gotten hardwired into my DNA because, after college at the University of Oregon, I moved to Baltimore for a year of civic service through AmeriCorps VISTA; moved to Washington, DC, the following year for a second such year of service; then moved back west to Berkeley, California, for law school; practiced law for a couple of years in Palo Alto and San Francisco; and then moved back east for rabbinical school here outside Philadelphia. I had spent some of my childhood years in Philadelphia, having attended Solomon Schechter Day School in Elkins Park and Masterman here in Center City. Full circle, I suppose — back home.
I’ve now been connected to Society Hill Synagogue for the last twelve years (dating back to when I was a second-year rabbinical student in 2014) and have made an agreement to be here for another ten. This putting down of roots is a contrast to these earlier chapters of my life. I can’t help but refract this through the prism of the collective Jewish experience, through which we have known, as scholar Elliot Ginsburg puts it, the enduring dislocations of exile and the joy of homecoming.
But as we also know from Jewish experience, the experience of coming home is not without its own challenges: investments need to be made, values honed and pursued, and capacities strengthened.
Looking forward to the next ten years, there is a lot to be excited about. I continue to be inspired by all the Hebrew School families I see making a community here — drawn to one another, to our dynamic and welcoming Hebrew School community led by Karen Hafter, and to putting their children on a pathway to a Jewish education that is preparing them to form a lifelong, meaningful relationship to Jewish tradition. I’m inspired by those in other generations taking on new leadership roles, like our quartet of volunteers Julie Wilson, Natalie Landro, Deb Stewart, and Laurie Krivo, who have revitalized our Hesed committee, ensuring that we provide caring and connection for those in our community who are going through trying times — grief, illness, and loss.
I’m inspired by the Scholar-in-Residence series we’ve created, where award-winning rabbis like Michael Strassfeld, Sharon Kleinbaum, Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, and Michael Cohen have come to offer teachings to our community based on their years of leading Jewish communities themselves. I’m excited to announce that the first Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat this year will take place on the Shabbat of October 30 and 31, 2026, featuring Rabbi Josh Feigelson, PhD, President & CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, with more information to come.
I’m inspired by the continued work of all of our volunteers to make this the inclusive, profound community that it is, filled with communal warmth, spiritual depth, and Jewish life.
And there is also a lot of investment to make. This year, Society Hill Synagogue will be marking the 60th anniversary of its formation, with a special celebration set to take place this spring, 2027. As community members — individuals and families — continue to be drawn to this community in times of need, we want to ensure this synagogue has the capacity to continue to serve as a source of strength, nourishment, and inspiration to this growing number of households. So we’ll continue to invite all of our members into conversation about how we author this next chapter of life at Society Hill Synagogue.
I’m honored to continue to have a role in creating community with you and grateful for our opportunity to continue to build together for the next decade.
