Rabbi Daniel Rockoff, who has been the spiritual leader for Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner (BIAV) since 2008, has accepted a position as Judaic studies principal/school rabbi at the Denver Academy of Torah (DAT). He will complete his official capacity with the congregation on June 30 and relocate with his family to Colorado in mid-August.
In an interview last week, Rabbi Rockoff said he had informed BIAV’s leadership in December 2018 that he planned to make a career shift. At that time the congregation decided to begin searching for a rabbi to take over for Rabbi Rockoff in the summer of 2020. It was further agreed that if Rabbi Rockoff found a very desirable new position sooner, he would pursue that opportunity.
On Monday, BIAV President Eva Lipner Sokol told The Chronicle the congregation had a meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening, after the paper goes to press, to vote on the new slate of officers and discuss the next phase for BIAV. Rabbi Ronald Schwarzberg, director of Jewish career guidance and placement at Yeshiva University, was expected to help facilitate the discussion. He will be BIAV’s point person throughout the search process and is, Lipner said, “a true expert in the field.” Members were expected to discuss the nuts-and-bolts of the search process and begin to establish the community’s needs and the characteristics of a rabbi that will help lead the congregation forward.
Sokol knows she speaks for the congregation when she says she is very sad to see Rabbi Rockoff leave Kansas City, she said.
“I am going to miss the Rockoffs’ presence and leadership,” she said. “At the same time, I am very glad that Rabbi Rockoff has the opportunity to pursue his career path of choice in educational leadership. We are all so fortunate that they made BIAV their home for the past 10 years. Their tremendous impact on this congregation and community will be felt for many years to come.”
Rabbi Rockoff said he really enjoyed being a pulpit rabbi and it was everything he had hoped it would be and more.
“I love the people, I love the shul, I love the community,” he said.
The BIAV rabbi is expected to take on a variety of roles in the community in addition to the role of pulpit rabbi, including working with the Vaad HaKashruth, the Chevra Kadisha and conversion candidates. Rabbi Rockoff also took on the role of dean of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA) Matmidim program.
Rabbi Rockoff said he had found great fulfillment in his work at HBHA in the development of the Matmidim program, which he hoped would help build the shul and the Jewish community.
“The main way I sought to do that was through developing an educational model that would keep members here as well as to attract new people to Kansas City. And that’s how I became more and more involved in HBHA and creating the Matmidim program. Fortunately it’s been a success.”
The satisfaction he got from his role with Matmidim led him to decide to focus his future professional efforts on day school leadership.
“I felt a strong pull toward Jewish day school educational leadership,” he noted, while acknowledging he had that calling prior to his move to Kansas City. Rabbi Rockoff has previously served as a middle school Judaic studies teacher at the Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford, Connecticut, and taught high school Talmud and Tanakh at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey.
HBHA’s Matmidim began in 2009 and grew from a class of five kindergarten students to a program with more than 70 kids almost 10 years later.
“BIAV’s membership has grown from 100 families when I got here to 160 families now,” the rabbi said. “I attribute that in large measure to the success of Matmidim.”
HBHA’s Head of Jewish Studies Rabbi Avi Weinstein said Rabbi Rockoff had helped create a strong foundation for Matmidim, “upon which we will build in the future.”
“In order to ensure that Matmidim continues to thrive, we have an entire team — including incoming Head of School Adam Tilove, myself and the Jewish studies faculty and staff — working to create a seamless transition for next year,” Rabbi Weinstein added.
Denver’s DAT is a modern Orthodox day school that serves approximately 160 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, smaller than HBHA’s enrollment of 226 but larger than the current Matmidim enrollment.
“This is just the type of opportunity I was seeking — to grow as an educational leader while also being able to utilize my rabbinic and communal leadership experience,” Rabbi Rockoff said.
Dr. Ayala Rockoff, who is currently the school psychologist at HBHA, was offered and will assume a similar position at DAT this fall. She is looking forward to bringing insights she learned at HBHA and sharing them with a new group of teachers and students, she said.
“While we are excited for a new challenge and a new opportunity, we have truly loved our time here and the relationships that we’ve made,” she said. “The professional and personal opportunities that we have had here are unparalleled, and we hope to find something approaching the depth and quality of the relationships and opportunities that we found here when we move on.”
The Rockoffs have four children, three of whom will attend DAT. The youngest is in preschool.
HBHA Lower and Middle School Principal Dr. Jessica Kyanka-Maggart said Ayala Rockoff, “the self-named Feelings Doctor,” would be greatly missed.
“Dr. Ayala Rockoff provided unconditional love and support to families, students, faculty and staff,” Kyanka-Maggart added. “She was an integral part of the Student Services team, bringing expertise in not just social and emotional well-being, but special education as well. Her care and creative thinking created a supportive, positive environment in which learning could blossom.”
Rabbi Rockoff goes to DAT with several degrees to assist him on this new career path. In addition to his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, magna cum laude, from Yeshiva College and his ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Rabbi Rockoff has two master’s degrees — one in Jewish education awarded by the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and another in Bible awarded by the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.
This month he is also expected to receive a Master of Public Administration degree from University of Missouri-Kansas City, Bloch School of Management.
“This degree will serve me well in this new capacity,” Rabbi Rockoff said.
His new position at DAT will include teaching and administrative duties.
“I love teaching,” he said. “I think it’s important for an administrator to still teach so that they have a pulse in what’s happening.”
Rabbi Rockoff is also passionate about working with kids, he said, so while he believes he has “a lot to offer administratively, I still want to maintain that connection with kids.”
Before he heads to Denver, Rabbi Rockoff will go to New York to participate in the Day School Leadership Training Institute, a “well-regarded program for training leaders in Jewish day schools from around the country,” to which he was accepted earlier this year.
Rabbi Rockoff said taking his career in this new direction would be a “change of pace.”
“It will be different. Schools are dynamic and exciting places to work. I’m excited to sink my teeth into that and I’m excited for a new challenge.”
While his official duties at BIAV will end on June 30, Rabbi Rockoff also plans to make himself available to assist with select rabbinical duties, such as lifecycle events, here in Kansas City for next year while BIAV goes through its interim phase.
He and Ayala leave the community with mixed emotions, he said.
“We love Kansas City, we love BIAV, we love HBHA, we love the Jewish community here and the city. Our family has really flourished. Our kids are happy. They’ve received a great education and a wonderful upbringing from many friends and wonderful people in the community.”
While it’s hard to leave and they have some deep roots here, he said, they are excited about the new opportunity, which will give them a chance to grow professionally.
“We hope that BIAV will find a great rabbinic leader to continue moving the synagogue forward,” he said. “We also hope HBHA, and the Matmidim program in particular, will continue to flourish.”