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Rabbi brings 'can-do' spirit to Shaarey Tikvah
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By: DOUGLAS J. GUTH Staff Reporter
Rabbi Edward Bernstein subscribes to "The Four Pillars of Jewish Life": studying Torah, engaging in a meaningful worship experience, engaging in acts of loving kindness, and supporting Israel.
The High Holidays, he says, are a time to strengthen those pillars through continued commitment to Judaism.
Bernstein, 32, the new spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Tikvah (Conservative), knows there is much work ahead. Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora continue to search for identity and peace in a post-9/11 world where the Jewish state is embroiled in a 3-year-old intifada.
The amiable Chicago native, who assumed his post July 15, looks forward to infusing Shaarey Tikvah with positive energy. "Judaism has a lot to say about meaningful living; it makes sense out of chaos," he told this reporter from his office in the 300-family Beachwood shul.
Shaarey Tikvah, he explains, has many young families committed to a high level of Jewish life and observance. The youthful Bernstein hopes the younger generation forms a symbiotic relationship with the congregation's older generation, a group who could "pass along the torch" of their wisdom.
Bernstein takes over for Rabbi Gary Robuck, who recently accepted a pulpit in Australia. For the past four years, Bernstein has served as associate rabbi of Beth El Synagogue Center, a 950-family congregation in New Rochelle, N.Y. There he directed an award-winning education program, created an annual family retreat weekend, and conducted an intensive adult b'nai mitzvah program.
The slim, goateed rabbi has had a lifelong connection to Conservative Judaism. He grew up in a traditional Conservative household in the Hyde Park section of Chicago's South Side, attending a small neighborhood synagogue each Shabbat. As a teenager, Bernstein was an active member at the local, regional and international levels of United Synagogue Youth (USY), serving as the organization's executive vice president in 1989.
Bernstein doesn't recall any epiphany or great awakening that led him to the rabbinate. "It was more like an evolution," he says.
In college, he deepened his attachment to the Conservative movement, attending the joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. After an intensive semester of study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he says, "I decided I could contribute to the Jewish community as a rabbi."
Bernstein is happy to be back in the Midwest with wife Ariella, an attorney, and their 2-year-old son, Samuel. He doesn't feel the pressure here that he did in New York, and sees Cleveland as "a good match" with "a dynamic Jewish community."
The earnest spiritual leader spent the last four Sundays leading up to Rosh Hashana teaching a class about the meanings and traditions behind the High Holidays. He's also in the process of creating an adult bat mitzvah program similar to the one he conducted in New York.
The act of teaching and the preparation behind it affords him the opportunity to learn. "Sharing that with others is powerful, a way to further strengthen our attachment to Judaism," says Bernstein.
He not only sees that connection within himself, but within his young son. While the little boy might not attend his dad's sermons, Bernstein gets a lump in his throat when he hears Samuel recite the words of the Shema. At home, Bernstein and his wife enjoy Shabbat get-togethers and the singing of traditional Jewish songs.
Bernstein is impressed with Cleveland's strong Jewish resources and commitment to Israel.
While the liberal movement here gets along well, the rabbi says, he would like to build stronger bridges with Cleveland's Orthodox community. There's no "magic bullet" to remedy this, he says, but a simple interdenominational community gathering would be a start.
The "doomsday report" of a recent study claiming a general decline in Jewish population isn't exactly sending Bernstein into a panic. However, like other rabbis throughout the U.S., he would like to see more young, unaffiliated Jews enter the fold.
Creating a positive environment for young couples can help achieve this goal, Bernstein says. Shaarey Tikvah, for example, welcomes small children into the sanctuary, a practice some shuls discourage.
Currently, the young spiritual leader continues to absorb the culture of his new city and congregation. He and his family are moving soon to Pepper Pike, to an area known as "clergy row" because of all the Conservative rabbis who live there.
Bernstein aims to keep the "can-do" spirit of his congregation going, an attitude fostered by its founders in 1940, who created the synagogue after fleeing Nazi oppression in Europe. The rabbi points out how these people stuck together in dark times, a lesson Jews today should take to heart.
After all, notes Bernstein, "Shaarey Tikvah" translated into English means "Gates of Hope."
The High Holidays, he says, are a time to strengthen those pillars through continued commitment to Judaism.
Bernstein, 32, the new spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Tikvah (Conservative), knows there is much work ahead. Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora continue to search for identity and peace in a post-9/11 world where the Jewish state is embroiled in a 3-year-old intifada.
The amiable Chicago native, who assumed his post July 15, looks forward to infusing Shaarey Tikvah with positive energy. "Judaism has a lot to say about meaningful living; it makes sense out of chaos," he told this reporter from his office in the 300-family Beachwood shul.
Shaarey Tikvah, he explains, has many young families committed to a high level of Jewish life and observance. The youthful Bernstein hopes the younger generation forms a symbiotic relationship with the congregation's older generation, a group who could "pass along the torch" of their wisdom.
Bernstein takes over for Rabbi Gary Robuck, who recently accepted a pulpit in Australia. For the past four years, Bernstein has served as associate rabbi of Beth El Synagogue Center, a 950-family congregation in New Rochelle, N.Y. There he directed an award-winning education program, created an annual family retreat weekend, and conducted an intensive adult b'nai mitzvah program.
The slim, goateed rabbi has had a lifelong connection to Conservative Judaism. He grew up in a traditional Conservative household in the Hyde Park section of Chicago's South Side, attending a small neighborhood synagogue each Shabbat. As a teenager, Bernstein was an active member at the local, regional and international levels of United Synagogue Youth (USY), serving as the organization's executive vice president in 1989.
Bernstein doesn't recall any epiphany or great awakening that led him to the rabbinate. "It was more like an evolution," he says.
In college, he deepened his attachment to the Conservative movement, attending the joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. After an intensive semester of study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he says, "I decided I could contribute to the Jewish community as a rabbi."
Bernstein is happy to be back in the Midwest with wife Ariella, an attorney, and their 2-year-old son, Samuel. He doesn't feel the pressure here that he did in New York, and sees Cleveland as "a good match" with "a dynamic Jewish community."
The earnest spiritual leader spent the last four Sundays leading up to Rosh Hashana teaching a class about the meanings and traditions behind the High Holidays. He's also in the process of creating an adult bat mitzvah program similar to the one he conducted in New York.
The act of teaching and the preparation behind it affords him the opportunity to learn. "Sharing that with others is powerful, a way to further strengthen our attachment to Judaism," says Bernstein.
He not only sees that connection within himself, but within his young son. While the little boy might not attend his dad's sermons, Bernstein gets a lump in his throat when he hears Samuel recite the words of the Shema. At home, Bernstein and his wife enjoy Shabbat get-togethers and the singing of traditional Jewish songs.
Bernstein is impressed with Cleveland's strong Jewish resources and commitment to Israel.
While the liberal movement here gets along well, the rabbi says, he would like to build stronger bridges with Cleveland's Orthodox community. There's no "magic bullet" to remedy this, he says, but a simple interdenominational community gathering would be a start.
The "doomsday report" of a recent study claiming a general decline in Jewish population isn't exactly sending Bernstein into a panic. However, like other rabbis throughout the U.S., he would like to see more young, unaffiliated Jews enter the fold.
Creating a positive environment for young couples can help achieve this goal, Bernstein says. Shaarey Tikvah, for example, welcomes small children into the sanctuary, a practice some shuls discourage.
Currently, the young spiritual leader continues to absorb the culture of his new city and congregation. He and his family are moving soon to Pepper Pike, to an area known as "clergy row" because of all the Conservative rabbis who live there.
Bernstein aims to keep the "can-do" spirit of his congregation going, an attitude fostered by its founders in 1940, who created the synagogue after fleeing Nazi oppression in Europe. The rabbi points out how these people stuck together in dark times, a lesson Jews today should take to heart.
After all, notes Bernstein, "Shaarey Tikvah" translated into English means "Gates of Hope."
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