Rabbi Neal Schuster, rabbi and senior Jewish educator of KU Hillel for 13 years, will leave KU Hillel after the end of the University of Kansas’s spring semester.
Rabbi Schuster, who was recently honored at KU Hillel’s annual Rock Chalk Shabayit, will move to Des Moines, Iowa, to be rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun.
His upcoming departure was announced on Jan. 7 via a KU Hillel email signed by Executive Director Suzy Sostrin and Board President Lon J. Lowenstein. The email included a message from Schuster and announced that Lowenstein will lead a search committee for his successor.
Although Schuster will be leaving this summer, his wife, Tamara, and son, Judah, will remain in Overland Park, Kansas, through next year so Judah can graduate with his class at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy.
Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff, who previously worked at B’nai Jehudah, currently serves as interim rabbi at Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Des Moines. Schuster said that Rabbi Nemitoff was very complimentary of Des Moines and Temple B’nai Jeshurun. Through talking with Nemitoff and visiting in person, Schuster learned about the Des Moines’ Jewish community and its deep sense of history. They are in a place where “they are poised to rediscover their sense of who they are… and define a trajectory towards who they’re becoming,” he said.
Schuster is motivated to lead Des Moines’ congregation because he wants to be a part of people’s lives at all stages, not just during their time at college. He also rejects the idea that congregational life is dying, believing that the pandemic has shown that there is more than one way for clergy to connect with their congregation. He said he will bring what he’s learned at KU Hillel to Temple B’nai Jeshurun.
Becoming a rabbi
Schuster was raised in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in a religious Reform Jewish family. He was involved with congregational life, youth groups and Jewish camps. Before considering becoming a rabbi, he attended the University of Washington and was part of a real estate company with one of his four brothers.
“I started to really get hungry for a more intellectual understanding of Judaism,” Schuster said. “A lot of my experience at that time, being involved with youth groups and camp, was what I could call affective Judaism — the kind of experiences that touch your emotion, your spirit, everything like that.”
Through his interest in Jewish learning, he came to the realization that real estate was not his calling. He sold his car and condo and left to live in Israel for a year, where he “ate books for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Upon his return to the United States, he became a regional director for NFTY, the youth movement funded by the Union for Reform Judaism. He also taught adult education classes before moving to Los Angeles, California, for a job that was supposed to last three years but ran out of funding within 10 months. It was clear to Schuster what he would do next.
“Every time I ‘ran the numbers,’ I kept coming back to rabbi,” Schuster said.
After talking to the dean of the rabbinical program at Hebrew Union College and working for a year at Westside JCC in Los Angeles, he began the process of becoming a rabbi. Only three weeks after his wedding, he started his rabbinical program in Israel.
Meanwhile, his mother was also studying to become a rabbi. She was ordained at the end of Schuster’s first year of his rabbinical program.
After his ordination, the rabbi and his wife settled in Kansas City in 2003. The city was poised for growth, he said, and the people were mensches. He became an assistant rabbi at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.
Creating a legacy at KU Hillel
Jay Lewis, former executive director of KU Hillel, became close friends with Schuster at B’nai Jehudah. When Hillel International began a pilot program to create the “senior Jewish educator” position at various colleges, Lewis and Schuster pushed for KU Hillel to be involved. They succeeded, and Schuster began his 13-year career at KU Hillel.
During his time at KU Hillel, “KU went from being a school where there happened to be a lot of Jews to being a school where people came because of Jewish life. It became a destination Jewish school,” Schuster said.
According to Schuster, KU Hillel is always changing, creating a challenging, dynamic and rewarding experience. He worked with over a decade of different students and helped shape their Jewish college experiences. As senior Jewish educator, he taught hundreds of classes.
“Neal is such an amazing Jewish educator because he never teaches one way to be Jewish,” said Suzy Sostrin, KU Hillel’s executive director. “He asks questions and has students learn many different views about Judaism so they can create their own Jewish identity… Neal has an amazing ability to ask deep and meaningful questions when he gives advice, which makes him such a phenomenal mentor to Hillel professionals and students.”
Schuster said that leaving KU Hillel gives it the opportunity to enter a new era and build something new and vibrant.
“Hillel is not only going to be just fine — they’re going to be amazing,” Schuster said. “I think that this is a good opportunity, having done some amazing stuff at Hillel and helping to create such a great culture, to step aside and let that culture flourish.”
Schuster is grateful for his time at KU Hillel and all the students he impacted. Leaving KU Hillel for Des Moines is bittersweet, he said, but he will only be three hours away and will not lose his connection with the KU and Kansas City Jewish communities.
“People leaving and saying goodbye is like my kryptonite,” he said. “I’ve been working in a job where every year, people leave, and every year, that’s hard for me… We are leaving, we are saying goodbye, but we’re not going to be cut off from our community here.”
Schuster has received an outpouring of support and congratulations since making his announcement. Both his personal and KU Hillel’s social media posts about his next steps have dozens of comments with well-wishes and memories. Students and alumni shared their gratitude to Schuster.
“Neal was and is a huge role model in my life as a Jewish adult,” said Ben Schenberg, KU alumnus and KU Hillel board member. “What he brought to KU Hillel will be remembered for years to come. Through all life’s hardships he was a fantastic sounding board, mentor, friend and all-around mensch.”
“I wouldn’t be working in the Jewish professional world if it weren’t for the impact and inspiration that he had on me. He’s the person that’s just always there for you,” said Ben Novorr, KU alumnus.
“Rabbi Schuster was instrumental to building my Jewish identity,” said Daniel Tabakh, KU alumnus. “His best quality is how much he makes every person feel special. He preaches hachnasat orchim (welcoming the stranger), and he lives it.”
Schuster’s impact will be felt for generations because he invested in and interacted with every student, Sostrin said.
KU Hillel Board Director Lon J. Lowenstein said that Schuster’s legacy is connecting generations of students with their Judaism, making them feel good about themselves, and strengthening their roots during college. “We are grateful for Rabbi Neal’s service these many years,” he said. “I hope everyone in Des Moines appreciates him as much as we do.”
“He will be greatly missed,” Schenberg said. “Des Moines got one of the good ones.”
