Bringing a part of Palm Beach County to Israel

As I leave my position at Yeshiva University to embark on a wondrous opportunity in Israel offered to me by a true leader, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, I will be bringing a piece of Palm Beach County with me.

For Palm Beach County was my incubator, helping to shape me as a Jew, a person, a thinker and a dreamer.

In partnership with engaged lay leaders the Boca Raton Synagogue grew from 60 to 600 families in the 14 years I was privileged to be its rabbi. I realized that the greatest contribution we made was to welcome all into our community. I learned that my job was not “to make people religious” but to enable young and old, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, snowbirds and full-time residents, observant and those new to the experience, to find their spiritual wings. Around our family’s table, we learned that each person contains a spark of God and if properly disposed, we could be the beneficiaries of their light. That we can achieve unity without uniformity — that in fact, uniformity can compromise the ability to create a united community in which multiple portals of spiritual entry exist.   Click here to read the rest of the Oped on the Sun Sentinel / Jewish Journal website