Rabbi Aaron Benson, shown during a visit to East Brunswick Jewish Center, will assume the pulpit in November.
Photo courtesy East Brunswick Jewish Center
September 9, 2008
Rabbi Aaron Benson was so taken with the resurgence he found at East Brunswick Jewish Center he was willing to travel 3,000 miles to be part of it.
Benson, currently religious leader at Congregation Beth Meier in Studio City, Calf., outside Los Angeles, will leave that position in November to take over as the new rabbi at EBJC.
He will succeed Rabbi Chaim Rogoff, who retired last year after a tenure of almost 30 years. (Rabbi Mitchell Romirowsky’s one-year contract as interim rabbi recently ended.)
“A synagogue community is the best place to build a connection to God and life,” said the 32-year-old Benson in a phone interview. “It’s very attractive to be part of a community that’s really interested in building that connection and building itself up as a community. In a traditional Conservative synagogue such as this, you are around all facets of Jewish tradition and are able to build on that relationship with other Godly-minded people.”
One tradition that Benson will have to confront is EBJC’s nonegalitarian stance, a rarity in the Conservative movement, which has been ordaining women rabbis since 1985. The great majority of Conservative synagogues allow women to be called to the Torah and take part in other ritual honors traditionally reserved for men.
“This is one of the things I have been charged with,” acknowledged Benson. “I think the Conservative movement provides many different ways for women to be involved in services and be important to the community. I come with no preconceived notions that the synagogue must move one way or the other. I am really excited about the possibility of developing new traditions of Jewish expression that are unique to EBJC.”
His current synagogue was in the process of becoming egalitarian when he arrived there in 2003; Benson said it is egalitarian in what he calls “a sort of traditional mode.”
“Many of the women members of the synagogue are very comfortable with what I call traditional Jewish roles….” said Benson. “We’ve built a culture where women are fully involved in services, but it’s not a cookie-cutter egalitarian model.”
The rabbi said he hopes to find such a solution at EBJC, allowing all members to feel comfortable.
“Something I learned in my present pulpit is that Judaism is a large religion with many synagogues and many ways to find a connection to God, and every synagogue needs to address what makes it unique and what makes it a worthwhile addition to the Jewish world.
“One of the things I’m excited to do at EBJC is offer my advice to the leadership and help make EBJC a unique addition to the central New Jersey area.”
A native of the Chicago area, Benson is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana with a degree in history. He entered the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at what was the University of Judaism in Los Angeles — now the American Jewish University — studied in Israel for one year, and was ordained in 2003.
Benson has spent five years in his current pulpit and serves as recording secretary for the Rabbinical Assembly’s Pacific Southwest Region executive board.
He teaches an introductory Judaism course at American Jewish University and hopes to use those skills to build on programs for young children and adults.
Benson’s wife, Isabel Smith, works for the Los Angeles office of CAMERA: the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. The couple has a seven-month-old son, Montgomery.
“I am ready to break out my winter clothes from when I lived in Illinois,” said Benson, who also would like to find time to play golf and indulge his interest in Gilbert and Sullivan opera. “I’m looking forward to shoveling snow again.”
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