The board of directors of The New Reform Temple has recommended that Rabbi Alan Londy be retained as the congregation’s permanent rabbi. Rabbi Londy began serving the Reform congregation on an interim basis on July 1, 2011, while it searched for a permanent rabbi to replace Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn. In late December 2010 the congregation announced that Rabbi Cukierkorn’s contract would not be renewed and the congregation and the rabbi ended its professional relationship in April 2011.
Michael Grossman, NRT’s president, said the congregation’s membership will vote on this recommendation during a special membership meeting following Shabbat services on March 2. NRT expects to offer Rabbi Londy a three-year contract.
“When I came here my intention was to be the interim rabbi,” Rabbi Londy said early this week.
“As I contemplated my future, I felt that at this time of my life that even though I loved the interim work, I wanted to have a less nomadic life. So I began to do a rabbinic search as New Reform Temple was conducting its rabbinic search,” the 55-year-old rabbi continued.
Since Rabbi Londy was hired specifically as an interim rabbi, NRT was required to get special permission from the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform movement’s rabbinic organization that assists in the placement of rabbis to its member congregations, to offer him a permanent position.
Grossman reported that the search committee, led by Ann Darke, reviewed 12 applications for the position. It was during that time that NRT discovered that Rabbi Londy was seeking a “settled position elsewhere.”
Rabbi Londy said, “Eventually we mutually agreed that if I’m looking for a permanent pulpit and they are looking for a permanent rabbi, let’s explore if I can remain. And that’s what happened.”
In a letter to members last week, Grossman said members of the search committee thought Rabbi Londy had done an excellent job as the interim, the committee decided to “approach him as a possible candidate for the settled position at NRT.”
After careful consideration the committee concluded that Rabbi Londy is the best choice for NRT.
“He has done an excellent job reuniting the congregation, improving procedures and making services more meaningful to members,” Grossman said.
One of the things that impressed NRT leadership is the way Rabbi Londy connected with members through focus groups. His goal was to gain a greater understanding of the congregation over the past several months.
“We believe the congregation will be able to build on its current momentum more quickly as a result of the continuity afforded by retaining Rabbi Londy,” Grossman said.
Following the formal vote scheduled to take place in two weeks, an installation ceremony will be planned. The ceremony is tentatively scheduled for a date in June.
Rabbi Londy attended a classical Reform congregation while he was growing up in Troy, N.Y. After graduating from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Near-Eastern studies, he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and was ordained in 1983. He also holds a Doctor of Ministry in pastoral counseling from Hebrew Union College in New York City and he has taken extensive courses at the Interim Ministry Network, the only national certification institute for international interim clergy, which is endorsed and recognized by the CCAR.
The first part of Rabbi Londy’s rabbinical career was spent serving Conservative congregations. He was the assistant rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Baltimore from 1983-1988; the head rabbi at Temple Israel in Orlando, Fla., from 1988-2000; and the head rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Smithtown, N.Y., from 2000-2006.
He returned to his Reform roots in 2006 when he became rabbi/rabbi educator at Temple Israel of the City of New York, where he served for five years.
Rabbi Londy and his wife Jane are the parents of two children. Their 24-year-old daughter lives in Israel. Their 21-year-old son lives in North Carolina and is an apprentice studying sustainable architecture.