‘Warm, caring’ B’nai Jeshurun finds new rabbi a dynamic pick

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

After interviewing Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, members of the search committee at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills knew their task had come to an end.

“He was dynamic, and very energetic…. He seemed to blow people away,” said Stephen A. Greene, president of the Reform synagogue and a committee member. “After the interview, it was unanimous that there was no reason for us to waste our time looking further.”

Apparently, the feeling was mutual, although Gewirtz described feeling a bit intimidated at first. “I walked into a two-hour interview. There were 26 of them and one of me.”

But that feeling dissolved quickly. “Within 10 or 15 minutes, it didn’t feel like an interview. There was a sense of warmth, respect, pride in the community and synagogue history” that took over, said Gewirtz. “It feels and tastes and smells like what I am used to, and a place I will call home.”

On July 1, Gewirtz, now senior associate rabbi at New York City’s Congregation Rodeph Sholom, will become B’nai Jeshurun’s seventh senior rabbi. He succeeds Rabbi Laurence Groffman, who will take the helm of Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove when Rabbi Norman Patz retires from the pulpit there.

Gewirtz is the first senior rabbi in memory at B’nai Jeshurun who will not have served under the tutelage of the previous senior rabbi, which was the case with both Groffman and his predecessor, Rabbi Barry Greene. That’s “both good and bad,” said Stephen Greene (no relation to the rabbi). “He won’t feel restrained by history — he’ll be a little freer to be his own person than others have been,” the synagogue president said. “But the challenge will be convincing the congregation he is everyone’s rabbi. But we don’t think he’ll have any trouble doing that.”

Gewirtz, 40, grew up attending Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, NY. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University and received rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997. He has served Rodeph Sholom, a synagogue in many ways similar to B’nai Jeshurun, for 13 years. The Manhattan congregation has a history dating back to 1842 and, like B’nai Jeshurun, one of the three original congregations of Newark, has a reputation as one of the preeminent Reform congregations.

Although he has enjoyed his work there, Gewirtz said he felt it was time to move on. “I needed to take the next step. I am part of the vision [at Rodeph Sholom], but it’s the senior rabbi’s vision to articulate. I knew I had to find a place that felt, spiritually and emotionally, like this place.”

In some ways, his arrival in Short Hills will be a reunion for him and the members of B’nai Jeshurun who are former members of Rodeph Sholom. “Some of the young moms who were dropping off their children at preschool saw him, rolled down their windows, and said, ‘Rabbi Matt, what are you doing here?’” said Greene. “They’re thrilled he’s here.”

Gewirtz offers a multifaceted vision for B’nai Jeshurun going forward that includes connection, learning, and social action.

“It’s a place where people feel at home; when you walk in, there’s a sense of warmth that comes from one person connecting to another,” he said. “I want to create a caring community where people feel connected and are there for each other. It will be a place of learning — a Reform Jewish congregation committed to knowing who we are. There are real issues about what it means to be a legitimate Jew. We should be learning as much as we can and be as literate as we can from kids to adults.

“And it should be a place that believes in fixing the world — a place where the mission goes beyond its own doors,” Gewirtz said. “There are people who don’t have enough to eat or roofs over their heads. By making others whole, we make ourselves whole.”

Interdenominational and interfaith understanding also top his list of priorities. “There are a lot of misconceptions,” he said. “I would like people to understand Reform Judaism, and Reform Jews to understand Conservative and Orthodox Judaism…. We should also connect to our Christian brothers and sisters.”

Gewirtz said he believes transformation is a critical role of the synagogue. “People should be changed by their experience in synagogue. It should change the trajectory of their lives. If not, why not simply go to the movies? The synagogue must be a place where activities are life-affecting.”

And, finally, it is the children who are at the core of his philosophy for the synagogue. “Our kids are before, in the middle, and after everything else I have said,” said Gewirtz, who is married to Lauren Rutkin, owner of Ventures in Philanthropy, a consulting company for nonprofits and individuals. They have an 18-month-old son, Jake.

“My door is always open during activities at the synagogue for my own son and for the congregation’s kids. When kids come home from college, I believe they should go to their own homes, drop their bags, and then come to their synagogue home.”

If Gewirtz has broad ideas, he will not be making any sudden changes when he arrives at B’nai Jeshurun. Rather, he said, he will first “get a handle on the flow of life there now” and implement shifts “in a smart, sensitive way.” He said he will articulate his vision from the bima, in classes, and with the congregation. Echoing words used by Barry Greene, he said there has to be an “evolution, not a revolution.”

Gewirtz also brings some unconventional tools to the rabbinate, including the three years he spent in the business world before deciding to attend rabbinical school and the insights he gained while participating in a two-year program run by the Spirituality Institute for Rabbis.

“It changed my rabbinate. It got me to slow down and understand myself in new ways.” It also changed his approach to choreographing services. For example, he said, “instead of having 20 seconds of silent prayer, why not try two minutes? Sometimes it’s good to be quiet.” And sometimes he tells congregants, “Forget the prayer book. Pay attention to your life instead. If people spend time in synagogue evaluating their lives and gaining wisdom, that’s a good experience.”

Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at jginsberg@njjewishnews.com.

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