Preparing for the pulpit

Posted

Rabbinical students gain practical experience in local shul

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of Sept. 19, 2008

Three students from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) of Yeshiva University have been hired as rabbinic interns at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence.

Rabbis Meir Lipschitz and Jordan Rosenberg are newcomers to the shul, while Rabbi Zvi Schindel is returning for a second year under the tutelage of Rabbi Kenneth Hain, the congregation’s rav.

“The interns are each rather interesting...and will certainly add great depth and variety to our Beth Sholom rabbinic leadership and teaching,” said Rabbi Hain, noting their “impressive credentials and experience.”

“The goal here is to get them some real on-the-job training, as a safe way for them to pick up skills while they’re still in school,” explained Rabbi Marc Penner, the director of professional rabbinics at RIETS. “We try to work closely with our students to identify weaknesses that appear during the year and to make sure that they’re the best they can be going out. The internship is a great stepping stone which gives them an experience that allows them to get a job in the future.”

As part of their semicha studies, the trio of young men will work alongside Rabbi Hain, giving shiurim and leading minyanim, getting a taste of what life is like as a pulpit rabbi. They are among a group of 30 semicha students who have been placed into pulpit positions for this year, as part of the Irving I. Stone Internship Program at RIETS. Twelve others were placed in schools, where they teach Judaic studies.

“It’s a mutually benefiting process,” Rabbi Hain observed. “The interns benefit from real life situations and being able to consult with rabbis who are experienced, and at the same time, congregants bond with young rabbi in ways that are different than with the senior rabbi. One other practical aspect is a shared benefit to YU because we are helping them train rabbis, and it allows us as a congregation to offer more than just one rabbi can provide, in terms of shiurim and other opportunities.”

The interns are at the shul close to three out of every four weekends, and rotate between different responsibilities.

Rabbi Schindel felt privileged to be able to address a crowd of 500 congregants from the pulpit on several occasions last year. This year, he hopes to focus his energies on working with the shul’s youth.

“The idea is to promote a sense of Torah in the shul, to provide more opportunities and let the youth grow up as future leaders,” he explained. “I want there to be a sense of camaraderie and a warm comfortable experience of going to shul, giving the kids something to look forward to.”

He wants to accomplish that by making the youth minyan on Shabbat more appealing, through weekly kiddushim, onegs and Shabbatons. A resident of Cedarhurst, Rabbi Schindel also knows many of the kids through his full-time teaching job at HAFTR and his summer position as a rabbi in Camp Seneca Lake.

“My wife and are really invested in the community,” added Rabbi Schindel, who moved from Woodmere this year.

The other two rabbis began their internships this month, and are also looking forward to the coming year.

“I am strongly considering being a pulpit rabbi and this is an opportunity which will give me better insight into what that world is like,” explained Rabbi Lipschitz, originally from Oceanside. “I hope to get more experience in diverse areas of rabbinic life, brushing up on my speaking, answering shailas, and finding out what a rabbinic lifestyle is like.”

Though this is his first experience working in the Five Towns, Rabbi Lipschitz served as a rabbinic intern in Washington D.C. last year, and now teaches 12th grade at MTA, where he is also the director of dormitory life.

He anticipates being involved in different life cycle events such as weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs and hospital visits, accompanying Rabbi Hain and observing him in his role as a congregational rav.

“I look forward to building relationships and impacting the shul and community,” Rabbi Lipschitz added.

Rabbi Rosenberg is also contemplating a position at the pulpit, and views the coming year as a hands-on learning experience.

“I hope to gain greater exposure to a masterful pulpit rabbi, and learn ways in which the pulpit rabbi can be involved with the community,” said the Pittsburgh native. “I really expect to learn a great deal of the Torah of being a rabbi...It is a learning experience that I want to have.”

Currently, Rabbi Rosenberg is coordinating a research project at the Institute for University-School Partnership at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, to evaluate religious purposefulness in schools.

“How spirituality is taught is an area of great passion for me and I look forward to learning more about it and being involved with it as a rabbi,” he explained. “How do you get people to be religious — these are some of the things I’m working on and would like to learn this year.”

Rabbi Rosenberg specifically chose to intern at Beth Sholom because of his positive impression of Rabbi Hain when the two first met.

“I was really very much taken by they way he articulated Torah and the sense I got of him as a person,” he recounted. “I felt I could learn a great deal from him.”

Rabbi Schindel also values the strong relationship he has formed with Rabbi Hain over the past year and the guidance he continues to receive from him.

“My work with Rabbi Hain has been one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life,” he said. “Besides being very worldly and knowledgeable, he also understands people and he and I connected right away. He has given me a wealth of advice on how to improve my lectures and other things.”

“I meet with the interns frequently for mentoring sessions where we’ll discuss feedback on their presentation, program ideas and assessment,” Rabbi Hain explained. “I am looking for them to be eyes and ears in the congregation for any new ideas they might have.”

A rabbinic internship — either at a shul or in a teaching capacity at a yeshiva — is just one of several requirements for aspiring young rabbis at RIETS. In addition to the intensive study of halacha and a range of bechinot to review what is being taught, RIETS students participate in interactive workshops and informal education sessions, all geared at preparing them for future careers in the rabbinate.

The fourth year RIETS curriculum, designed by Rabbi Penner and Rabbi Gideon Shloush, now focuses heavily on practical rabbinics and the development of professional skills. This includes OU Kashrus training seminars, personal coaching sessions and a mentor-intern program. The students also attend sessions on topics such as effective listening skills, time management, dealing with stress, and metrics to evaluate success.

Rabbi Shloush also conducts seminars intended to prepare the semicha students to maximize the impact of their internships and offer them the skills needed for future success.

Rabbi Hain pointed out that Beth Sholom has employed interns for over 15 years, many of whom have successfully gone on to lead other pulpits, such as Rabbi Shalom Rosner, who was the rav of Congregation Beis Ephraim Yitzchok in Woodmere for seven years before moving to Israel last month.

“What’s interesting about the internship idea is that shul membership — the congregants — are actually involved in the training of the rabbis and they sort of regard it with pride when they go on to become rabbis in other communities,” he said. “It is a progressive idea which benefits the community and is a golden opportunity to improve the level of rabbinic training.”

Though the Young Israel of Woodmere has had interns in the past, Beth Sholom is the only shul in the Five Towns that has hired any this year. In addition to various positions in the tri-state area, interns are also placed at pulpits across the country, including shuls in Los Angeles, California and Columbus, Ohio.