Last week Kehilath Israel Senior Rabbi Jeffrey Shron announced to synagogue members that he and his wife Hedy plan to make Aliyah to Israel after the High Holy Days in the fall. One of the Shrons’ three children, daughter Carla, lives in Israel with her husband, Elie, and four children.
“I have been privileged to be your spiritual leader for the past 20 years,” he said in an email to congregants. “The congregation is very dear to me, my second family. Hedy and I have shared many happy occasions with you and have developed many close friendships within the congregation, friendships that we truly cherish, and it will be very difficult to say farewell.”
Marty Gorin, president of K.I.’s board of directors, said the congregation will miss Rabbi Shron.
“It’s always sad to have to say goodbye to a friend who’s been like a member of your family. Rabbi and Hedy are close with K.I.’s membership. And it’s been a 20-year relationship of learning, playing, crying and laughing together. It will be very difficult to say goodbye. However, we take comfort from the fact that our rabbi and Hedy are making Aliyah while they are, in their words, young and healthy enough to embark on this next chapter in their lives, to be closer with children and grandchildren. We wish them well.”
Gorin added that the congregation has already begun the search for a new rabbi.
Rabbi Shron came to K.I. as its hazzan in 1997 and became senior rabbi in 2013. A native of Monsey, New York, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and teaching certification from New York University and St. Thomas Aquinas College. Although he began serving as a hazzan at age 15, he received his formal cantorial training at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, in the Masters of Sacred Music program, and in 2006, he received his rabbinic smicha (ordination) in Jerusalem, Israel.
In addition to his responsibilities at the synagogue, Rabbi Shron also interacts with the Jewish community in his role as mohel. He serves as a chaplain in the Overland Park police and fire departments. He is also a member of the Johnson County Critical Incident Stress Management team, which helps emergency responders cope with the post-traumatic stress of their demanding jobs.
Hedy Shron, who is a licensed social worker in Kansas and Missouri, is a native of Netanya, Israel. In addition to their daughter in Israel, the Shrons have two grown children in the United States: Joshua, who lives in New Jersey with his wife, Mairov, and five children; and Shmuel, who lives on the Upper West Side in New York City with his wife Emily.