From Rabbi Yael Splansky and Temple President, Avra Rosen
One of the impacts of the pandemic, across all industries, is employment transitions. It is true in Jewish communal work and it is true for Holy Blossom Temple. In the past two years, we have seen many changes among our team of professionals, across departments.
In the past, Rabbis and Cantors would often sacrifice living in the same city as extended family for the sake of their congregational commitments. Across North America, many are now relocating for the sake of family. So it is for us. Cantor Rosen came to Toronto to be with family. Rabbi Helfman moved to London, England to be with family. Rabbi Kaye is coming to Toronto to be with family (https://holyblossom.org/announcing-rabbi-samuel-kaye/) And soon Rabbi Goodman will be leaving for Cincinnati, Ohio to be with family.
This opportunity came up unexpectedly for Rabbi Goodman. A special position opened and, with our blessing, less than two weeks later the match was made. We will miss Rabbi Goodman and the many talents he has brought and continues to bring to strengthen the Holy Blossom community. At the same time, we are happy for Rabbi Goodman, Katie, Abe, and their little one on the way. They will be reunited with family and friends after nearly two years without much opportunity for safe travel.
The very capable Rabbinic Search Committee, which made a successful match with Rabbi Kaye last week, is now back to work. They have interviews lined up for this Sunday and are hopeful that in the coming weeks, we can make another good shidduch in time for a summer start.
Thank you for your ongoing support and please join us now in wishing Rabbi Goodman a Mazel Tov.
From Rabbi Zachary Goodman
It is with bitter-sweet emotion that I share with you my family’s plans to return to Cincinnati this summer. I have recently accepted a position as the Associate Rabbi at Isaac M. Wise Temple; the congregation where Katie and I were married and in close proximity to family. This process moved incredibly quickly and so I apologize to my friends and community members that I was unable to reach before this announcement reaches your inboxes. There is so much work to be done before we say goodbye and please know that I am eager to continue this sacred work with you.
Over the past few years, I have considered myself incredibly lucky to call Holy Blossom my community and Toronto my home. It has been a true honour to learn from Rabbi Splansky and to begin my rabbinate with her leadership and mentorship. I have learned deeply, fostered meaningful relationships, and have felt the warm embrace of this community – even through a pandemic. Thank you all for embracing me and my family and for teaching me so much during our time together.
Announcing Rabbi Samuel Kaye
We are delighted, on behalf of the Rabbinic Search Committee, to share the exciting news that we have made a remarkable match for Holy Blossom’s next Associate Rabbi and are thrilled to introduce you to Rabbi Samuel Kaye. Rabbi Kaye and his family are excited to be joining the Holy Blossom community, beginning this coming July.
Rabbi Kaye is joining us from The Temple in Atlanta, GA where he has been part of the clergy team since his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2018. During his time in Atlanta, Rabbi Kaye’s work was multifaceted, focusing most deeply on a myriad of social justice initiatives, dynamic teaching, and deep engagement with his congregational community from its very youngest to the very wisest members. What stands out most about Rabbi Kaye is his keen intellect, his ability to foster deep and meaningful relationships, his skills in making Judaism accessible, and his eagerness to value the traditions that make Holy Blossom so unique while also exhibiting an excitement about bringing new creative ideas to our community.
Rabbi Kaye is no stranger to Holy Blossom. Prior to his ordination, Rabbi Kaye spent a summer with us as a Rabbinic Intern. During that time, he led worship services, engaged learners in deep study, and gained an understanding and appreciation for the uniqueness of our Temple community and that of Reform Jewry in Canada. Those of you who had the opportunity to engage with Rabbi Kaye will recollect the many contributions he made to Temple life in just a short period of time.
Rabbi Kaye will be joined by his beautiful family – his wife, Taylor Baruchel, is finishing her own Rabbinic studies and will be ordained at HUC-JIR next year, and their 18-month-old daughter, Selah, who is excited to meet new Holy Blossom playmates! Taylor was born and raised in Montreal. Most of Taylor’s closest family now resides in Toronto, so Rabbi Kaye, Taylor and Selah are not just joining our community, but are also ‘coming home’ to their own family.
We have no doubt that both Rabbi Kaye and Taylor will make an incredible impact at Holy Blossom. Their many talents, interests, and most especially their warmth will be far-reaching.
We wish to thank our extraordinary Rabbinic Search Committee for their partnership in this process. Each member of the committee brought their own unique skills to our work, always keeping in mind the needs of our greater Temple community. Thank you to Maddie Axelrod, David Malinowicz, Jeffrey Myers, Nancy Lerner, Lisa Taylor, and Rabbi Splansky (ex-officio).
There will be many opportunities over the next few months to connect with and get to know Rabbi Kaye. Watch out for more details! Until then, please join us in welcoming Rabbi Kaye, Taylor, and Selah to the Holy Blossom family.
Warmly,
Karen Kollins and Jeff Denaburg
Chairs, Rabbinic Search Committee
From Rabbi Splansky
A few years ago, I got a call from Hebrew Union College informing me that there was an applicant for our summer rabbinic internship. “But we don’t have a summer rabbinic internship,” I said. “I know,” said the professor on the other end of the line, “but you have an applicant.”
That tells you everything you need to know about Rabbi Samuel Kaye. Even as a rabbinical student he had ambition, foresight, boundless curiosity, and a desire to grow. Those qualities have now been matched with four years of experience in one of the leading congregations of the Reform Movement and the mentorship of my friend and classmate, Rabbi Peter Berg. You will soon see for yourself the winning combination of Rabbi Kaye’s confidence and humility, seriousness, and good humour.
I am grateful for the excellent Rabbinic Search Committee, which brought a range of Holy Blossom experiences as well as professional experiences to the deliberations. The committee’s tremendous co-chairs, Jeff Denaburg and Karen Kollins met with me each week since Simchat Torah. With good guidance from the Central Conference of American Rabbis and support from the Pulpit Committee, they navigated this search process with good planning and good insight up until this moment of success and celebration.
As we prepare for Shabbat Shirah, when we chant the Song of the Sea, we sing another joyful song in anticipation of the good things to come, just on the horizon. I invite you to please use the comment section below to join me in sending warm greetings to Rabbi Kaye and his family.
From Rabbi Sam Kaye
Good people of Holy Blossom Temple,
I cannot express how overjoyed, honoured, and excited I am to be welcomed, once again, into this amazing community. My wife Taylor, our daughter Selah, and I are eagerly looking forward to making the journey north this summer to begin our lives in Toronto. We can’t wait to join you for beautiful tefilla, exciting and engaging learning, and transformative acts of tikkun olam. Of course, what we are looking forward to the most is the small and simple blessing of being face to face, soul to soul. Whether that be in our stunning synagogue, strolling through the beautiful green spaces of Toronto, or over a good cup of coffee; we can’t wait to meet you!
In so many ways this feels like coming home, and that is a nearly impossible thing to capture with words alone. Fortunately, our Jewish tradition is filled with guidance on how to express our feelings and hopes, even when language seems insufficient. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam ha’tov v’hameitiv! Blessed are you Adonai our God, who is good and who does good for us!
With a heart full of gratitude and excitement, I will see you soon!
During a recent ZOOM gathering with friends, we found ourselves hard-pressed to engage in any other topic than how COVID 19 has impacted our lives. Try as we might, our digression into movies, television, politics, and family life always seemed to circle back to the pandemic: vaccines, masks, testing, quarantines, and lockdowns. There was no escaping the subject.
That the pandemic has changed our lives is an understatement of vast proportions. When was the last time we shook hands, engaged freely in hugs, and both offered and received pats on the back? When was the last time we enjoyed restaurants, cinemas, live theatre, dance, and music, or visited a museum or art gallery? When was the last we shopped without first having to stand outdoors in line? When was the last time we undertook to travel, either internationally or within Canada? And when was the last time we left our homes without protective face masks?
All of the foregoing being understood, Holy Blossom invites you to share your pandemic story. By way of our weekly online bulletins, we offer a portal through which you may recount one or more of the ways that COVID has affected and changed your life. Your story need be no longer than a paragraph or two and may be edited for content and brevity. We hope you will view this as an opportunity for both expressing to and learning from others in our congregational community how this difficult transformation has affected our view of the world and one another – health-wise and otherwise. It’s also a wonderful way for us to stay connected and in support of one another. And perhaps, we will come to appreciate – if we have not done so already – how there are aspects of daily living none of us will ever take for granted again.
Please send your pandemic story to us by emailing [email protected].
Rabbi Bill S. Tepper
Only one person was at first created, so that none should say to her or his fellow human being: ‘my ancestor is greater than your ancestor.’
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
As a student rabbi, my initial experience in leadership unfolded in a church in a small Indiana community, generously lent to the congregation I was serving in the understanding that the congregation had no physical home of its own.
In the years since my ordination, I have visited – in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Winnipeg, Manitoba, among other locales – churches and mosques many times: to address worshippers as guest-clergy, teach Bible, serve on social justice panels, and accompany my congregational youth and adult members in the name of experiential education.
As well, I have been privileged to have my clergy colleagues of other faiths speak from my own pulpit: for U.S. Thanksgiving, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the anniversary of 9/11.
I cannot overstate the value of interfaith activity. I cannot amplify the importance of extending hands, minds, hearts, and spirits across religious lines. We learn from one another. We acquire a more-global view of the communities that are our homes. We appreciate the imperative of being on-call for each other. And we establish enduring friendships.
For these reasons, I am proud to be participating in the work undertaken by Holy Blossom Temple’s Interfaith Committee, a group that played an integral role in the success of our congregation’s recent Indigenous Memorial Program and Gifts of Light Concert.
Holy Blossom’s energetic Interfaith Committee has several worthy projects planned for 2022, all of which involve partnerships with other faith groups, and that are blessed with the ingenuity and devotion of Temple volunteers: a multifaith Passover seder, a project devoted to First Nations learning and engagement, a tikkun olam undertaking, and participation in the upcoming World Interfaith Harmony Week. Living in a world plagued by ignorance, xenophobia and mistrust, these endeavours will go a long way towards enlarging our capacity for compassion, understanding and justice.
Please contact me – Rabbi Bill S. Tepper – to learn more about Holy Blossom Temple’s Interfaith work.
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
Emergency Funeral Contact
Cell: 416-565-7561
Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.