Rabbi David Glickman arrived here in July, during what was and continues to be a severe drought. Yet the situation is the exact opposite at Congregation Beth Shalom, where everything is blossoming and thriving under the young rabbi’s leadership.
Rabbi Glickman will be officially installed at a celebratory weekend that begins on Friday night, Dec. 14, with a Shabbat dinner. Rabbi Glickman’s colleague, Rabbi William Gershon, senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, Dallas, will install Rabbi Glickman as senior rabbi during the 9:30 a.m. Shabbat service on Dec. 15. For more information regarding the event, contact Stef Williams, 913-647-7269 or .
“Rabbi Gershon has been a tremendous friend and mentor ever since I met him in 2001. He’s one of the most dynamic speakers speaking on any pulpit today, so it will be a treat for the Beth Shalom community to be able to learn from such an engaging teacher,” said Rabbi Glickman during a recent interview at his office.
“This installation weekend is not simply about installing me. It’s really about the rededication of the whole synagogue community to a renaissance at Beth Shalom, of which my arrival is one part,” he continued.
The rabbi may not want the weekend to be solely about him, but it’s clear that both leadership and members have been singing his praises.
“Rabbi Glickman has impressed all of us with his level of caring, compassion, knowledge and enthusiasm. We are so blessed to have Rabbi Glickman, his wife Annie and their children Gavi, Ellie and Dani as a part of our congregational family. With our shared vision for the future, we are on a huge upswing of monumental positive change,” expressed Beth Shalom President Michael Abrams.
Alan Edelman, who co-chaired the search committee with Norman Kahn, Jr., noted that it is not an easy task to select a rabbi who can meet the needs of such a demographically diverse congregation, but he has many ideas about how to engage people in their Judaism based on where they are in their spiritual journey.
“Rabbi Glickman relates well to our youngest preschool children as well as the sages of Beth Shalom. He understands how important it is to widen the door so that everyone can enter,” Edelman said.
Kahn echoed Edelman’s sentiments.
“He’s energized all age groups and really unified us and brought us together in this time of transition,” Kahn said. “He is dedicated to our strategic plan and has already met many of the goals we set for this transition.”
Rabbi Glickman, who was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001, said he came to the decision to pursue the rabbinate while he was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies in 1995.
“I was very involved in Hillel and a number of different activities and specifically I was very involved in pro-Israel politics on campus. As passionate as I am about supporting Israel, I had a realization that without a Jewish people there would be no supporters of the state of Israel and I wanted to dedicate my life to helping build a thriving and flourishing Jewish people.
“I look at the position of a rabbi as being instrumental in pushing forward the future of the Jewish people,” Rabbi Glickman said.
Beth Shalom is Rabbi Glickman’s second pulpit, serving as associate rabbi of Shearith Israel for 11 years. While this is the first time he’s carried the title senior rabbi, his duties there were similar to what they are now.
“Honestly, Shearith Israel was a wonderful training ground and I was given a lot of responsibilities and a lot of freedom, so it hasn’t been so radical a transition. Also Shearith Israel had a satellite service every Shabbat and I was responsible for their satellite community, so I had more executive function than the typical associate rabbi,” he said.
Rabbi Glickman is excited to be working at Beth Shalom; a congregation he said has “a rich history and a tradition of contribution to the Kansas City Jewish community.”
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be here with Beth Shalom for this next chapter,” he said.
In the few short months Rabbi Glickman has been at Beth Shalom, he has come to enjoy the warmth of the people there as well as the congregation’s diversity, which Edelman referenced as well.
“There’s the whole spectrum of religious observance, of Jewish knowledge, and I appreciate the diversity of the synagogue. I find that its diversity makes it a very rich and exciting place to both serve and also to be a member,” the rabbi said.
“Additionally I would say there is a really can-do attitude to Beth Shalom and it’s exciting to work with staff and volunteers who are so positive about wanting to make their synagogue an exciting and meaningful spiritual home.”
Mirra Klausner is one of those volunteers who has gotten to know Rabbi Glickman and his family. Before he even arrived, she said they had heard through the grapevine that families in Dallas were very sad to see him leave. Now, she said, “we know first-hand just what they were talking about!”
“Rabbi Glickman is a captivating speaker, a thoughtful educator, and tries to be accessible to his congregants and lay leaders despite his very busy schedule.” Klausner said. “He really is a mechayah (joy)! He hit the ground running when he got to KC and I believe he is already helping Beth Shalom move forward in a positive direction, which is just what we needed. And our bonus is that Annie is an incredible person and educator herself. They will both, undoubtedly, be major contributors to the richness of Jewish life in Kansas City.”
With 750-member units, Rabbi Glickman said it is a challenge to serve as the only full-time clergy on staff. The congregation is embarking on a search this year for a second clergy position that will focus on the congregation’s educational needs.
“As I mentioned before, the congregation is so engaged and they’ve been so helpful and they want this match to succeed. So we have cadres of volunteers who read Torah every week, who lead our daily minyan every day at Village shalom, as well as members who are running our Bar and Bat Mitzvah program and there have been so many individuals who have stepped up that while it’s very busy, it’s manageable because of the support the congregation has given,” Rabbi Glickman said.
So far Rabbi Glickman has focused his efforts on programming for young families and the Rose Family Early Childhood Education Center, as well as the Polsky Family Religious School and “our incredible KCUSY chapter.” As times goes on he hopes to spend some time creating programs for emerging adults (adults 21 to 35) in those critical years before they start creating families.”
“Also I look forward to building on the rich heritage of adult education that is already in place and expanding our opportunities for members to be engaged in tikkun olam (repairing the world.),” he continued.
“I spoke on Rosh Hashanah about all of the talents and skills that people bring of themselves to create a tabernacle. My overarching goal is to create a place where everyone feels that what they bring to the community is important and matters.”