It was standing room only two years ago when Congregation Beth Torah’s Rabbi Mark Levin gave the sermon on Shabbat Shuvah at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. It marked the first time ever the two largest Reform congregations in the area gathered to pray together.
This week on Friday, Sept. 6, Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff, B’nai Jehudah’s senior rabbi, will be the guest speaker for erev Shabbat worship at 6:30 p.m. on Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance, at Beth Torah. Once again the two congregations will combine for Shabbat services. Rabbi Nemitoff will speak on the subject “Coming Home: The Call of Teshuvah.”
The two rabbis had considered collaborating for a while before they were spurred to action in 2011 by a speech given by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman at the communitywide Shavuot program that spring. That summer the board of directors of the two congregations met and the youth groups began getting together for some programs. Rabbi Levin said the two youth groups continue to work together.
When Rabbi Levin spoke to the overflow crowd two years ago, Rabbi Nemitoff said the “mood was electric.”
“Rabbi Levin’s comments were heartfelt and remarkable. It was the first time in 25 years that he had returned and spoken from B’nai Jehudah’s pulpit.”
Rabbi Levin began his rabbinical career as assistant rabbi of B’nai Jehudah in 1976. In 1988 he left B’nai Jehudah and became the spiritual leader at Congregation Beth Torah, a congregation he helped start and where he has served ever since. He is planning to retire as the pulpit rabbi in June and take on a new role at the congregation that is continuing to be defined.
When Rabbi Nemitoff speaks Friday night, it will also be a historic first. Never before in Beth Torah’s history has a rabbi from B’nai Jehudah been invited to speak. When Rabbi Nemitoff, who grew up at B’nai Jehudah, returned to the congregation to lead it in 2003, he said it had been incredibly important to him to find ways for the two congregations to collaborate.
“This is our third opportunity for the congregations to work closely together, including a combined board meeting,” noted Rabbi Levin. “I look forward to Rabbi Nemitoff’s sermon, both for its message and for the symbolism of closer future cooperation between Beth Torah and B’nai Jehudah.”
