Rabbi Beryl Padorr is seeing a dream come true and at the same time is making history.
Last week Congregation Ohev Sholom congregation co-presidents Adam E. Miller and Mike Silverman announced Rabbi Padorr has been chosen to serve as the Conservative congregation’s next senior rabbi. She will succeed Rabbi Scott White who is retiring from the pulpit when his contract expires in the summer of 2019.
When she takes over Aug. 1, 2019, Rabbi Padorr will become the first female to serve as a senior congregational rabbi in the greater Kansas City area.
(It should be noted there are two rabbis in the region who are the sole spiritual leaders of their congregations — Rabbi Debbie Stiel at Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, and Rabbi Linda Steigman at Temple Adath Joseph in St. Joseph.)
Currently the Shared Vision coordinator at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, Rabbi Padorr said she is excited to return to the pulpit as Ohev’s spiritual leader. This fulfills her dream of being a congregational rabbi in Kansas City, where her journey to the rabbinate began.
“Ohev is a very warm and welcoming community,” said the rabbi, who has been a member of the congregation for the past several years. “It’s really my great joy and a privilege to become the rabbi for the congregants.”
Rabbi Padorr said she looks forward to enhancing the relationships she already has with other congregants and forming new ones.
“For me it’s exciting to work with the congregation’s board and staff to build on what’s already there and wonderful and to continue to grow the congregation in meaningful and spiritual ways. And, of course, to return to what I love.”
Ohev has a history of choosing rabbis with Kansas City ties as its spiritual leader. Rabbi Padorr moved to the Kansas City area in 1968 and has called the area home for a good portion of her adult life. Rabbi White is a Kansas City native.
Audrey Asher, chair of Ohev’s rabbi search committee and a former president of the congregation, said the search for Rabbi White’s successor began almost immediately after he announced in February 2017 his intentions to retire. The committee — which included Larry Gordon, Jay Herman and Stef Offenbach — conducted surveys and personal interviews to “get the pulse of the congregation” and determine what the members wanted in a spiritual leader. After the needs were determined, the congregation chose to first look within the local Jewish community to see if anyone could match those qualifications.
“We identified Rabbi Padorr as someone who potentially met our needs and who had an interest in having her own congregation,” Asher said.
Asher stated several things attracted the congregation to Rabbi Padorr, including her prayer leading skills, teaching skills, intellect and communication skills.
“We wanted somebody who had Conservative smicha and then we wanted someone whom we saw as an individual who would be interested in having personal connections,” Asher said. “Her chaplaincy experience was significant to us as was her ability to connect with people of various ages.”
Rabbi Padorr has been a rabbi for the past 12 years, earning her smicha in 2006 from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies from American Jewish University in California. While preparing for her ordination, she earned a Master of Arts in education in 2002 from the university’s Fingerhut School of Education and a Master of Arts in rabbinics from Ziegler.
Following her ordination, Rabbi Padorr served as the rabbi and religious school director for Temple B’nai Hayim in the Los Angeles area and sat on the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. She also served as rabbi for Tifereth Israel Synagogue in Des Moines, where she was called upon to offer prayer for the House of Representatives at the state capitol and sang with the Java Jews Klezmer Band at the Iowa State Fair. She was a member of the Des Moines Rabbinic Association and participated in interfaith services and events. She taught in the Des Moines Jewish Community Religious School and conducted Yizkor and other holiday services at the Jewish Life Center.
Rabbi Padorr returned to the Kansas City area in 2012 so she could be closer to her three married children and their families, which now includes six grandchildren.
“Once they began having children, it was really important to be a part of all of their lives,” she said. “I want to have the joy of watching my grandchildren grow up.”
Rabbi Padorr took on a new challenge upon her return when she became a resident chaplain at Research Medical Center in its Clinical Pastoral Care (CPE) program.
“It was never my goal to leave the pulpit. My goal in 2012 was to return to Kansas City in whatever capacity was available to me at the time,” she explained.
Rabbi Padorr said serving as a chaplain was a wonderful opportunity to learn about herself in relationship to others, including her family.
“I really never felt more present than in the emergency room with a patient who was walking the line between life and death. It’s an incredibly powerful and humbling responsibility. The CPE program also allowed me to serve many patients on a daily basis and to learn about others’ beliefs, religions, cultures and rituals.”
Rabbi Padorr stayed in that position two years, specializing in women’s issues her second year. She also served as a chaplain at Children’s Mercy Hospital. During that time she taught Melton classes.
She became the Shared Vision Coordinator at B’nai Jehudah in September 2014. As a member of the general staff, not the rabbinical staff, she is charged with guiding people and helping develop their Jewish Journeys. Her duties also include pastoral care visits, supporting families and officiating at funerals and shiva minyanim. At B’nai Jehudah she has also helped guide conversion candidates through to conversion and has taught Talmud.
“In general I serve when called upon,” she explained.
In the Nov. 14 edition of Bisseleh Bytes, B’nai Jehudah’s weekly eblast, Rabbi Padorr said she was not looking to leave the Reform congregation, “but was presented with an opportunity to fulfill my dream and what I worked for, to become a congregational rabbi.”
In that eblast B’nai Jehudah Senior Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff said the congregation has been blessed to have Rabbi Padorr a part of the congregation.
“Her gentle, nurturing spirit, combined with her rabbinic skill and wisdom have helped each member of our congregation journey along their Jewish path,” Rabbi Nemitoff wrote. “We have been enriched through her teaching and guiding us. As she moves over to Ohev Sholom, she will take with her our gratitude for helping us nurture Jewish meaning, connection and continuity over these last five years. While we will miss seeing her on a daily basis, we are so pleased she is staying in the Kansas City area.”
