Interim rabbis will serve as guides during Marlboro shul’s transition year

by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

Congregation Ohev Shalom-Marlboro Jewish Center has hired two interim rabbis to help guide it through a challenging year of transition.

Rabbi Gerald Zelermyer and Rabbi Gary Karlin, who began their service at the synagogue in August, will serve as interim rabbis for one year.

The Conservative congregation was forced to seek a replacement for Rabbi Peter Light, who resigned in June amid charges that he allegedly misused his discretionary fund. The charges are being investigated by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Rabbi Zelermyer and Rabbi Karlin will help our congregation move forward,” said congregation president Jeff Sacks of Manalapan, “and their presence will provide the opportunity for us, as a congregation, to take the time necessary to perform the appropriate rabbinic search so we can find the right candidates for our synagogue, our religious school, and our community.”

In addition to assisting Zelermyer with his rabbinic responsibilities, Karlin will serve as interim religious school director.

The school is in the midst of significant growth and changes, and Karlin’s presence will continue to move it along a path of excellence, according to Bonnie Komito of Manalapan, the center’s executive director.

In response to requests from the congregation and the community, the center’s three-day religious school program has been reduced to two days, Komito said. As a result, Karlin will be involved with the development of the new curriculum and other school plans and programs, she added.

“We’re thrilled Rabbi Karlin is here to lead us through this time of positive change,” Komito said. “His goal for the school is right in step with ours — to create a framework of excellence.”

Zelermyer served as religious leader of synagogues in Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In Connecticut he also served on the boards of directors of the Solomon Schechter Day School in the Hartford area, the Greater Hartford Jewish Federation, and the Commission of Jewish Education.

A native of Boston, Zelermyer was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1968 and received a certificate in gerontology from St. Joseph College in West Hartford in 2003.

“My respect and love for the elder population draws me toward this segment of the Jewish population, hoping that I can still add value and understanding of the spiritual in the autumn of their lives,” said Zelermyer.

Karlin, ordained at JTS in 1987, has extensive leadership, teaching, and curriculum development experience in the area of Jewish education. Before coming to MJC, he was a member of the faculty at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union and in Bergen County, as well as an instructor at Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies in Paramus.

“I want to help adults, youth, and children broaden their base of Jewish knowledge, deepen their faith in God, and find their places in a caring, religious community,” Karlin said.

Zelermyer will conduct this year’s High Holy Day services at the center; however, since a previous commitment requires Karlin to be elsewhere during that time, Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, who resides in Israel, will assist Zelermyer, Komito said.

Both interim rabbis have already brought their humor, wisdom, and creativity to the congregation, Sacks said.

“They engage with our members in a meaningful and very spiritual way,” he said. “When Rabbi Zelermyer speaks, his words draw me in and touch my heart.”Zelermyer and his wife, Heske, have two grown sons who live out of state; Karlin and his wife, Carol, have a young son and daughter.

The interim rabbis’ one-year term, a requirement of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, will work in the synagogue’s favor, said Sacks.

“First and foremost, they can be rabbis — no politics, no contract worries,” he said. “I’m confident that they will give us 110 percent of their efforts, even if it’s only for the short term. That will help us through the transition.”

The congregation members proceeded slowly and carefully through the process of selecting interim rabbis, Sacks added. “The congregation was extremely supportive of the process. As a result, I’m confident we made the right decision.”

And the congregation feels strong and empowered, added Komito.

“What we’re really about is 850 families who come together to share the Conservative Jewish experience,” she said. “Despite recent problems, we haven’t missed a beat. I knew our congregants would rise to the occasion.”