By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Her face and smile have that sun-kissed glow bestowed only upon California girls, it seems. And Rabbi Beth Singer bestows it on everyone at Temple Beth Am, one of the largest Reform synagogues in Washington, where the self-described Ventura-born beach girl will be assuming the new and historic position of co-senior rabbi, working as a team with her husband Rabbi Jonathan Singer, Beth Am’s senior rabbi since 1995.
Currently, Singer works at roughly 25 percent capacity to focus on raising the couple’s three children, Rena, 16; Jenny, 14; and Robert, 10.
But the ever-expanding membership at the synagogue, tallied at 870 families on the day we spoke, can and often does change, reflecting the ever-increasing numbers of Jews moving into the area and choosing Temple Beth Am.
As of June 1, the couple will have two distinct positions — not job-sharing. It’s an arrangement that is seldom seen.
“It’s actually very exciting because there are very few models for this in the country,” Singer told JTNews. “We will take a full-time-and a three-quarter time rabbinical position, and equitably distribute all the work of the congregation between the two of us — the teaching and pulpit work, and all of the things that rabbis do.”
Having a married rabbinical team leading a large urban congregation is fairly rare, according to Dita Appelbaum, president of the Board of Trustees at Beth Am. One other couple in Indianapolis has been sharing rabbinical duties, she said, but mainly she sees congregational rabbis married to spouses with different jobs, like cantors.
“We knew we were walking down a different path,” said Appelbaum, “but they function as a team and have very clear communication lines between the both of them. It’s long overdue, because her background and credentials are equal to a senior rabbi.”
The Singers both held rabbinical positions in separate congregations earlier in their respective careers. Beth Singer held two full-time rabbinical posts — one in Scarsdale, New York, and the other in Seattle at Temple De Hirsch Sinai.
“We would have been looking for a second rabbi anyway, because our congregation is growing so much,” said Appelbaum. “And she knows our community. They both perceive it as a great perk.”
The day-to-day workload for the rabbinical team will not abate, however. Even though they can now split the work between their two schedules, the demands of being a congregational rabbi never really subside.
In addition to preparing and leading sanctuary services, the Singers spend a great deal of time individually with B’nai Mitzvah students.
They also officiate at deaths, births, and weddings, in addition to their ongoing ministries of marriage counseling, individual counseling, and visiting the sick at their homes or in the hospital.
Outside of their congregational responsibilities, both rabbis meet weekly with staff and work closely with the temple leadership to develop programming.
“We are also member[s] of the Washington Coalition of Rabbis,” said Beth Singer. “We make alliances with the rabbis at Hillel and the other synagogues. We try to maintain a good, strong relationship with all of the Jewish leaders in town like Chabad, and the Orthodox rabbis.”
Somehow they also carve out time in their busy lives to visit schools and speak about Israel and Judaism, as well as co-teach classes.
Both rabbis are also involved in national Jewish organizational outreach. Jonathan Singer works with a group called Just Congregations, a national social action organization, and both work with Rodef Tzedek, a local social justice group.
Beth Am members will also reap the benefits of the personal counseling experience and the couple’s different leadership styles.
While Jonathan Singer gives the impression that he is covering all of the bases and getting the job done, Beth Singer seems to glide from meeting to meeting.
For the membership at Beth Am, confirming Beth Singer as the new co-senior rabbi was a no-brainer.
“It was the shortest congregational meeting I’ve ever attended,” said member Shelly Cohen. “It’s a recognition of all the great work she’s been doing.”
Cohen also thinks that the rabbinical couple has a lot to offer.
“She’s not just an afterthought,” said Cohen. “She’s a wonderful rabbi in her own way. We’re blessed to have a great team.”
It was Rabbi Beth Singer who began to offer healing services several years ago, according to Cohen, and they have become very meaningful to many who go to them for spiritual solace during hard times in their lives.
“I think it is positive for the congregation,” added Cohen. “They each have different areas of strength.”
Still, the Singers must work to balance their professional and family life.
They have dinner together every night, according to Beth Singer, and even though it’s usually a simple vegetarian meal, with everyone taking their turn preparing it at some time, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Before I ever met Jonathan, before I even became a rabbi,” confessed Singer, “I had a little fantasy that someday I’d be a rabbi married to a rabbi and we’d work together. That was my dream and it came true.”