May 4, 2025
How does one begin to reflect on eighteen years as a rabbi? For years, I was asked why I chose to become a rabbi? I became quite proficient at sharing the story about my rabbi, Phil Berger, of blessed memory invited me to meet with him before my junior year of high school. I had spent time that summer in Israel and several weeks at Kutz Camp, the NFTY Teen Leadership Academy. It wasn’t until 10 months later at the service honoring our synagogue’s seniors when he talked about the importance of being Jewish leaders, when I decided I wanted to be a rabbi. Fast forward 30 years from that summer and I look back on this first part of my rabbinic journey filled with abundant joy and blessings.
It has been the greatest honor to serve in two wonderful congregations, of course here at Beth Tikvah and at Temple Isaiah in Los Angeles. A day does not pass when I do not count my blessings for how lucky I have been over these years. I am filled with such gratitude for our staff, temple presidents, lay leaders, and congregants who make this community great. Each of you fill the work I do and my days with such holiness.
In thinking about these last eighteen years, I want to reflect on a few lessons I have learned along the way. As rabbis we spend so much of our work thinking about how we can bring meaning to people’s lives. We do this through education, prayer, meaningful programs. Over the years, I have created or co-created many different programs, and many have been great. Those programs are important as they are the steppingstones on which we walk from significant moment to significant moment. Being a rabbi is about helping to create meaning in those big moments; perhaps most importantly when people are vulnerable. The most sacred moments are those that I share with families at a B’nai Mitzvah celebration, a wedding, accompanying them through darkness of grief or when they are in need of healing. The programs are important but being present in these significant moments may be most important and sacred.
Judaism offers us a plethora of answers to a multitude of questions. Our tradition is a treasure trove of wisdom waiting for us to explore more of it. As a rabbi one of the most important things I can do is be a transmitter of our tradition. I recall first moving to Los Angeles in the days before GPS devices were a thing. We were still using Map Quest for most directions. When I arrived in LA, someone gifted me the famous Thomas Guide which was several hundred pages and contained a map of every street and neighborhood in Los Angeles County. You first looked up the street in the index of where you were going and then found it on the right page of the map. (Thank God for the GPS!) Part of being a rabbi is understanding where people are and when there is a question about Jewish life or wisdom, it is our responsibility to help connect them with answers. Years ago, I read a teaching from the Tzvat HaRivash which taught that if we have studied Torah during the day, it might bring us meaning as the lessons we learn might apply to our lives. As a rabbi, there are times when I need to be like the Thomas Guide or GPS helping to support us all on our journeys.
Lastly, the days following October 7th have taught me that Jewish Peoplehood and connecting to the core parts of our Jewish story enrich our lives and connect us to community. We are the sum of the stories we tell about ourselves. Each time we gather to celebrate Shabbat or a holiday, each time we gather to learn Torah, and each time come together as a community, we add to the stories. We are bound together by these stories which in some ways reminds us of the menorah that stood in the ancient Temple. The Torah tells us we are to light the lights regularly, tending to them until they light on their own. There is a fire that burns within each of our souls and every time we gather in community we tend to the flame of Jewish life.
I am so grateful to have served at Congregation Beth Tikvah for these past fourteen years and as a rabbi for the past eighteen. I am truly grateful to Debra, Zoe, and Shira who have shared this journey with me and been supportive every step of the way. Thank you all for being part of our extended family.
Rabbi Rick Kellner