When native Kansas Citian Corey Helfand was in first grade, he played “the rabbi” in a siddur celebration at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. So his longtime HBHA friends weren’t surprised when he changed his focus at Washington University from pre-med to the rabbinate.
“I’m a pre-med dropout,” he said in a recent interview. “I did two years of chemistry and biology and decided the relationship was over.” Though his major remained Judaic studies and political science even while he was pre-med, he realized that his goal of helping people could only be achieved by going to rabbinical school.
“I took a year off after college to study in Israel,” he explained, “to determine if the rabbinate was really the right path for me.” A 2005 cum laude graduate of Wash U, Helfand graduated in May with 26 others from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and also earned a Master of Arts degree in Talmud and rabbinics and pastoral care.
At only 28, newly-ordained Rabbi Helfand is one of eight rabbinic graduates to receive full-time positions as senior pulpit rabbis; six others will be assistant rabbis. Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City, Calif., a 215-member Conservative congregation, located north of Palo Alto, will be Helfand’s new home.
The son of Richard and Vicki Helfand, Rabbi Helfand is no stranger to the organized Jewish world; he describes his parents as “engaged and empowered.” They are active members of Congregation Ohev Sholom and both volunteered at HBHA when Corey and his younger brothers, Ethan and David, were students. Richard is International Secretary of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and Vicki is active with Ohev’s Sisterhood.
Rabbi Helfand also credits HBHA with sparking his interest in Judaism. “I had some great Hebrew teachers — Sari Havis and Edna Meltzer,” he said, “and I loved the curriculum.” He also cites his high school experiences in BBYO and USY — including USY Pilgrimage to Israel summer trip for teens and March of the Living — as developing his love for Israel and the Jewish people.
“Teens want something meaningful,” he said, “something out-of-the-box.” While a student rabbi at Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel in Riverdale, just north of JTS, Helfand started a Jewish Teens for Justice. Under the mentorship of Rabbi Barry Dov Katz, “We discussed hot-button issues that culminated in a teen service trip to New Orleans,” Helfand said, adding that the group also initiated get-togethers with a youth group from the East Bronx. He wants to do that at Peninsula Sinai as well.
That’s not all he has planned. Building on his experience as a Gladstein Fellowship rabbinic intern in North Carolina, Rabbi Helfand would like to expand his weekly Torah commentary to include one-on-one prayer, meet members and others on their turf, and initiate a “listening tour.”
“Corey’s leadership skills come from a rare combination of empathy, instinct and knowledge,” said Ned Gladstein, a JTS board member who created the Gladstein Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Rabbinics. “His listening skills are extraordinary, and enable him to understand the key points, as well as needs of people on various sides of an issue, to craft unique and effective solutions. He has gained the respect and affection of his congregants and peers alike, and, I’m sure, will continue to touch many people with his kindness.”
But Rabbi Helfand doesn’t want the synagogue to become his only focus: “I want the community to be my agenda. I want Judaism to be accessible.” He doesn’t want to wait for Jews to come to him and hopes to offer classes at participants’ homes or offices, or even local colleges. “I want to meet new people, not just synagogue members. Everyone wants to be heard,” he said. “And it’s my job to listen.”
The interview process is where this goal became most apparent for him. He was asked: “How are you going to fix all our problems?” He countered with “What do you love about this place?” And he discovered that many search committee members were passionate about their synagogue. “So many people have great ideas, but they don’t know what to do about it,” Rabbi Helfand said. “What you do (at a synagogue) should reflect your goals and mission.”
And in order to do that, he would like to conduct “listening campaigns” at Peninsula Sinai. “I’d like to train people to lead them, take notes and bring them back to leadership,” he added. He described one instance where someone asked about suffering in Judaism. “Was he asking about something theological or something personal?” he asked himself. “If it’s personal, I don’t want to miss that. If he’s hurting, I want to hear the story.”
Rabbi Helfand’s list of awards and prizes demonstrate that listening and follow-up are his great strengths. From valedictorian of HBHA to Dean’s List and the Steven Schwarzchild Prize for Outstanding Undergraduates for academic achievement at Wash U, Rabbi Helfand added several more awards at JTS. He won three prizes for outstanding work in Talmud as well as one for Hebrew literature.
“Since I began rabbinic school, I have reaffirmed my love of studying Torah, practicing the tradition, being a presence in the lives of others, and being part of a learning/spiritual community,” he said, “where you can learn as much, if not more, from those you teach.”
Married to Jennifer Ackerman of Dallas, the couple have an 8-month-old daughter, Eden Leora.
The couple met during Corey’s post-college year in Israel at the Conservative Yeshiva. She was studying for a master’s degree in public health at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. “Jenny’s twin brother learned two desks over from me at the same yeshiva. She would frequently visit as well as participate in programs at the yeshiva,” he recalled. “One afternoon, Jenny and I were sitting at the same table. The conversation turned to cooking and I mentioned that I bake challah. We had our first date a couple of months later; we baked challah for Shabbat. The rest is history!”
In addition to internships in Riverdale and North Carolina, Rabbi Helfand also worked at Congregation Hakrayot in Kiryat Bialik near Haifa for a year. He was the first American rabbi to intern at a Masorti (traditional Conservative) synagogue in Israel, serving with the congregation’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Mauricio Balter. “Having met Jenny in Israel, I thought it fitting to spend our first year of marriage back in Jerusalem,” he said. And, “this was the first time I had taken classes in Hebrew, which I found to be challenging yet fulfilling.”
As to the challenges of being the young rabbi of an established congregation, Rabbi Helfand said, “Now more than ever, rabbis of today are more aware of the issues facing American Jewry, specifically in the Conservative Movement. I find that younger rabbis approach Judaism through social justice, community organizing, ethics and values. At the same time, the continuing struggle for any rabbi is to make Judaism exciting and enticing, without pushing anyone away.”
By the way, Rabbi Helfand almost became Cantor Helfand. His love of hazzanut (cantorial music) comes from his relationship with “Cantor Cyrus Spungen, of blessed memory, who helped me fall in love with Jewish liturgy and Torah,” when he became Bar Mitzvah at Beth Shalom.
“I actually applied to both rabbinical school and cantorial school. While I knew a tremendous number of the melodies (nusach) I knew almost no musical theory,” he smiled.
“Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll be a singing rabbi!”