By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Editor, JTNews
When Jay Rosenbaum’s dad made a mid-life change from the world of advertising to become a rabbi, the kids used to tease him — he didn’t change careers, he just got a new employer.
Rabbi Nathan Rosenbaum was the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in North Belmore, N.Y., for many years but he never lost his knack for marketing. His son, the new senior rabbi at Herzl-Ner Tamid, learned a lot about advertising and outreach from his dad, knowledge that has served him well in his career.
“He taught me about using theater and advertising techniques,” says the younger Rosenbaum. For many years of his youth on Long Island, his father created a special Shabbat newsletter combining the news of the day with lessons from Jewish texts. “He was very successful at creating a mood of warmth and community.”
After spending an hour with Jay Rosenbaum, it seems clear the younger rabbi is continuing his late father’s work. He shared with enthusiasm his previous efforts to make Shabbat and Sukkot relevant to Jews around the nation. Two years ago, he set up a booth at the Council on Alternatives in Jewish Education conference to promote his “Burn the Candle at Both Ends” program — an effort to encourage more Jews to light both Shabbat and Havdalah candles. His “Make a Lulav Shake” campaign to get more people to buy a lulav and etrog for Sukkot also had national exposure throughout the Conservative movement. He also helped educate Jews about not wearing leather shoes on Yom Kippur through his “Sneak into Shul This Yom Kippur” project.
Although his main job for the next year at the Mercer Island synagogue is to get to know his congregation and to help the congregation get to know each other, Rosenbaum has no plans to put his creativity and his Jewish marketing efforts on hold. One of the first projects he is working on, with a committee of lay leaders, is a sukkah-building workshop at Home Depot in Bellevue at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22 and Sept. 11. A flyer in this month’s synagogue newsletter promises participants will learn how to build an easy, inexpensive sukkah with their friends from the Men’s Club. The community is welcome to participate. For more information, contact Herzl-Ner Tamid, at 206-232-8555.
The Rosenbaum family moved to Mercer Island on July 8 and is currently looking for a house on the island, but this is far from their first sojourn in the greater Seattle area.
Rabbi Rosenbaum’s wife, Janine, grew up in Seward Park, and they have spent 95 percent of their vacations over the past 22 years in Seattle. Two years ago, Rosenbaum spent his sabbatical in the area. His father-in-law, Victor Guttman, makes his home in Seattle.
“Because we have such a strong connection to the city and the Jewish community, it seemed like a natural to apply. We’re happy things worked out,” says Rosenbaum, who for the past 16 years has served as rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester, Mass.
He is excited about serving a congregation with such a distinguished history. “The congregation is going to be celebrating its centennial in four years. A lot of great things have happened over many decades,” Rosenbaum said. He spoke fondly of Herzl-Ner Tamid’s previous senior rabbi, Rabbi David Rose, who now heads a much bigger congregation in the suburbs around Washington, D.C. They were rabbinical students together and Rose has been very generous with his time and offers of assistance, Rosenbaum said. “I have a lot of respect for him personally. I feel lucky to follow really wonderful rabbinic leadership … and to have such a great staff,” he added.
The members of the congregation are also enthusiastic, the new rabbi said.
“There’s a mood of excitement in the congregation. People want to get involved. They want to get engaged,” he said.
Between his first few Shabbats, the new rabbi has spent most of his time meeting with people, getting to know the diverse congregation — from B’nai Mitzvah candidates to brides and grooms to long-time members. He heard a hunger for more learning, spirituality and connection.
“Over the past 10 years, there’s been a real upsurge of interest in Jewish renewal … doing more Torah study, learning more about our Jewish roots … there’s a great openness to that in our congregation,” he said. “People want to be connected to each other, they want to be connected to the Jewish community, to Judaism and to God.”
Some of the search for connection stems from the congregation’s membership growth over the past decade. Rosenbaum said the refrain he has heard over and over again is that there are a lot of new faces among the 850 families that belong to Herzl-Ner Tamid.
People wondering what else will be new on Mercer Island with a new rabbi, will see some changes at Shabbat services. Rosenbaum said he likes to create a Torah dialogue on Saturday mornings. He also hopes to bring some new excitement to the Jewish holidays. In addition to the sukkah-building project, he looks forward to having a Lag B’Omer bonfire — possibly on the synagogue’s own beach if it can get a permit to do so.
In addition to looking for a house and getting their two children — 13-year-old Shoshana and 16-year-old David — acclimated to life in the Pacific Northwest, Janine Rosenbaum will soon be looking for a new job. She was the director of Judaic Studies at Solomon Schechter Day School in Worcester, Mass. She has a master’s degree in library science from the University of Washington and is certified to teach kindergarten-through-12th-grade secular studies.
Years ago, Janine Rosenbaum ran the library at Seattle Hebrew Academy and initiated a program to help new students with a weak background in Hebrew transition to the Orthodox school. She grew up at Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, where her father still belongs. And the family has one other, little-known connection to Seattle. Rabbi Rosenbaum’s Aunt Muriel is married to Rivy Poupko Kletenik’s father.