Tomorrow evening (June 8) at Erev Shabbat services The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah will bid farewell to Rabbi Daniel Kirzane and his family. Rabbi Kirzane joined B’nai Jehudah in July 2015 as assistant rabbi. On July 1 he will begin work at Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion in Oak Park, Illinois.
“As our rabbi, we have been blessed to learn from him, to celebrate with him, to mourn with him, to be cared by him,” stated B’nai Jehudah’s Senior Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff in his weekly Bisseleh Bytes email.
The Kirzanes are moving to the Chicago area because Jessica Kirzane accepted a position teaching Yiddish language and literature beginning fall 2018 at the University of Chicago.
Rabbi Kirzane told The Chronicle this is a new position for Oak Park Temple, described as “a warm Reform Jewish congregation in historic Oak Park, an inner suburb just west of Chicago.” The congregation hasn’t had an assistant rabbi since Gunther Plaut in 1949. Rabbi Plaut subsequently became editor of “The Torah: A Modern Commentary” for the Reform movement that was first published in 1979.
According to Rabbi Kirzane, the congregation decided it was time to hire an assistant rabbi due to steady growth.
“Five years ago they had around 410 families and now they have around 540 families,” said Rabbi Kirzane. “The congregation has been really healthy and in order to expand the good work they’ve been doing, they decided as a staff and a congregation to add another rabbi.”
At Oak Park Temple, Rabbi Kirzane will have a full range of rabbinic responsibilities similar to those he had at B’nai Jehudah. He expects to be able to cater these responsibilities to his own talents and interests, including adult learning, social justice and building and strengthening the congregation’s community, “in particular helping to engage marginal constituencies in the main life of the community.”
As an example, at B’nai Jehudah Rabbi Kirzane worked with members who live in midtown and other areas north of the Overland Park congregation, scheduling some events closer to them “to make it easier for them to be a part of the community.”
Rabbi Kirzane pointed to other examples such as starting a havurah at B’nai Jehudah for LGBT individuals and families. Other constituencies of interest to the rabbi include intermarrieds and Jews of color.
When Oak Park Temple President Shari Schindler informed the congregation Rabbi Kirzane will be joining the staff, she wrote in an email: “The search committee was extremely impressed with his dynamic presence, knowledge of Jewish text, depth of character, passion for Reform Judaism, and his eagerness to collaborate with our professional staff and lay leadership. We were taken by his ability to lead, his warm and approachable enthusiasm for teaching, and his strong belief in building individual relationships with and among congregants. His experience and zeal for social justice, alongside his demonstrated commitment to education and pastoral care align with Oak Park Temple’s mission. Rabbi Kirzane’s ability and desire to build partnerships throughout the Jewish and wider community will bring depth to our already strong clergy team.”
Rabbi Kirzane will miss B’nai Jehudah but is looking ahead to the next chapter in his rabbinical career.
“I have grown considerably professionally as well as personally during my three years here and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to take the experience I’ve gained here to Oak Park Temple.”