last word
Rabbi Jacob Staub
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
F or those who don’t know Rabbi
Jacob Staub, it’s hard to imagine
that someone who has been a
rabbi for the past 45 years, at one point,
didn’t want to be Jewish at all.

For Staub, 71, director of the online
platform Evolve: Groundbreaking
Jewish Conversations and professor
emeritus of Jewish philosophy and
spirituality and director of the Jewish
Spiritual Direction Program at the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
in Wyncote, the path to embracing
Judaism really was a reconstruction.

But six decades ago, Staub’s rela-
tionship with Judaism was much more
fraught. Raised in a Modern Orthodox
home in the Bronx, Staub was “destined
to be a rabbi,” according to his parents,
as he performed well at his yeshiva.

His parents named him after Rabbi
Jacob Joseph, the chief rabbi of New
York City’s Association of American
Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. Still,
Staub resisted his Jewish upbringing.

“I couldn’t do it,” Staub said. “It
was clear subliminally, unconsciously,
I probably was looking for a way out.”
By the time Staub was about 12, he
realized he was gay.

“Somehow, the whole paradigm
crumbled,” he said.

Staub would sit at the Shabbat table
on Friday nights, but he wouldn’t sing.

At some points growing up, he con-
sidered himself an atheist, not know-
ing that Judaism could exist outside
Modern Orthodoxy.

His parents were patient with him,
and Staub’s attempts to escape Judaism
were never successful. As Staub was
growing up, his parents listened to
WEVD, the most popular Yiddish
radio station in New York, tagged “the
station that speaks your language.”
Determined as he was to reject his
roots, when the Yiddish music washed
over him, he couldn’t help but feel moved.

“I felt emotional; it touched me,” he
said. “I tried to get over it, but I couldn’t.”
28 Staub and Judaism continued to play
tug-of-war for years. Despite a strong
resentment toward Israel on the eve of
the Six-Day War, an international pro-
gram at SUNY College at Old Westbury
saw him study in Tel Aviv.

“In Israel, I tried lots of different
things: I lived on a kibbutz; I went to
K’far Chabad; I almost stayed there,”
Staub said. “I actually wrote a letter to
the Lubavitcher Rebbe while I was at
K’far Chabad because it didn’t take me
long to get swallowed into Chabad.”
During his stay, Staub met the
AUGUST 18, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
woman who would become his girl-
friend, and later ex-wife. In his letter
to the Rebbe, Staub sought advice and
counsel, determined to “convert” him-
self to being straight.

Staub later transferred to SUNY
Buffalo, where he studied medieval
and modern English, spending his
days translating Geoffrey Chaucer’s
“Canterbury Tales” before realizing he
wanted to change course again.

“It really became very clear to me
that I would always be a tourist in
Chaucerian England, and that I’d
much rather be doing this in Hebrew,”
he said.

He attended the Middlebury Bread
Loaf Fiction Writers’ Conference
toward the end of college, where he
discovered the works of Mordecai
Kaplan, the father of Reconstructionist
Judaism. “It was perfect,” Staub said. “Mordechai
Kaplan had been raised Orthodox, and
he had embraced the reconstructed ver-
sion of Judaism. And I read everything.”
Staub moved to Philadelphia in
1971, matriculated into RRC in 1972,
and became ordained as a rabbi in
1977, concurrently attending Temple
University to get his master’s and doc-
torate in religion from 1972-1981.

Though initially pulled toward aca-
demia, Staub returned to RRC after
receiving his Ph.D. from Temple.

“[I] just realized I had the oppor-
tunity, with the help of colleagues, to
turn RRC into the seminary I wish
I had attended,” he said. “What that
meant to me then was reaffirming some
traditional stuff in a new language for
people to make it more appealing to be
more observant.”
In the 45 years Staub has been affili-
ated with RRC and Reconstructionism,
he’s seen the movement transform.

“Fifty ago, we were revolutionary,
in terms of discussion of God ... all of
those theological issues,” Staub said.

“There was no talk — until the ’80s,
anyway — of including lesbian and
gay Jews, let alone genderqueer [Jews].

We’ve become much more open to
excluded groups. We lead on intermar-
riage, on Jews of patrilineal descent,
first bat mitzvah, all these women’s
rituals for baby naming, miscarriages,
first menstruation.”
Ultimately, Staub said, his work at
RRC was to help build a community,
democratic and diverse, and, above all,
welcoming. “I wanted to bring the riches that I
had rediscovered and reconstructed to
a larger world,” he said. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Bryan Schwartzman
RECONNECTS WITH JUDAISM



SEASHORE SALE
LOVE where you LIVE
VOTED ATLANTIC COUNTY
BOARD OF REALTORS
2020 REALTOR OF
THE YEAR!
*TOP 10
in the country out of all
Berkshire Hathaway agents
*GCI 2019
NEW LISTING!
MARGATE $5,750,000
NEW CONSTRUCTION! CUSTOM
ESTATE WITH 5 BED, 4.5 BATHS,
IN-GROUND POOL, ELEVATOR
& LARGE 3RD FLOOR DECK!
NEW LISTING!
MARGATE $839,000
WELCOME TO THE BEACH
HOUSE! TWO-STORY TOWN-
HOME JUST STEPS TO THE
BEACH WITH A ROOFTOP DECK!
www.HartmanHomeTeam.com NEW LISTING!
MARGATE $2,750,000
NEW CONSTRUCTION COM-
ING PRESTIGIOUS PARKWAY
SECTION OF MARGATE ON ONE
OF THE PRETTIEST STREETS!
NEW LISTING!
MARGATE $799,000
OWN ONE OF THE
MOST AMAZING SPOTS!!
RELAXING CREEK VIEWS
EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK!!
WANTED TO BUY
WANTED TO BUY
ANTIQUE & FINE FURNITURE
Paintings & Sculptures
HHT Office
609-487-7234 NEW LISTING!
MARGATE NEW LISTING!
$2,299,000 FIRST BLOCK NORTH NEW
CONSTRUCTION WITH OCEAN
VIEWS!! CONTEMPORARY 5
BED, 4.5 BATH MASTERPIECE!
NEW LISTING!
VENTNOR ATLANTIC CITY $1,700,000
OCEANFRONT LUXURY TOWN-
HOME! HUGE ROOFTOP DECK
WITH BREATHTAKING SKYLINE
AND OCEAN VIEWS!
NEW LISTING!
$599,000 CHECK OUT THIS NEW BAY-
VIEW BEAUTY!! ADORABLE,
TURN-KEY RAISED RANCH
WITH AMAZING SPACE!!
MARGATE $459,000
FULLY RENOVATED 2ND FLOOR
CONDO! LOCATED JUST STEPS
TO ALL OF MARGATE’S FABU-
LOUS DINING AND SHOPPING!
HOMES FOR SALE
The DeSouzas
are Back
on Bustleton!
The Summer Market is still HOT!
Now is the time to list
your home with US!
9211 Ventnor Avenue, Margate
8017 Ventnor Avenue, Margate
NEW LISTING!
NEW LISTING!
MARGATE $1,499,000
YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO BEAT
THIS CORNER PROPERTY
AND THIS AMAZING FRONT
WRAP-AROUND PORCH!!
VENTNOR NEW PRICE!
EGG HARBOR TWP $399,000
ATTENTION DEVELOPERS!
3.54 PRIME ACRES ON HIGH
TRAFFIC BLACK HORSE PIKE
WITH 247 FT OF FRONTAGE!
$1,315,000 GRAND HISTORIC ACROSS
FROM THE BEACH! THIS 6
BED, 4 FULL BATH HOME IS
ONE YOU WON’T FORGET!
NEW PRICE!
ATLANTIC CITY
$239,900 SOUTH FACING PLAZA UNIT!
WELL MAINTAINED 1 BED,
1 BATH UNIT WITH BEAUTI-
FUL OCEAN & SUNSET VIEWS!
HOMES FOR SALE
Things Change Over
The Years But Not
LOYALTY, DEDICATION,
SERVICE & HARD WORK
Call Andi or Rick DeSouza for an appointment
& we will deliver: Results, Not Promises!
RE/MAX ONE REALTY
Eric DeSouza, Associate Broker
Andrea DeSouza, Sales Associate
Eric Cell 215-431-8300/8304 • Bus 215-953-8800
rickdesouza70@gmail.com REAL ESTATE
Commerical Office Space For Rent
IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY
650 Square Feet of a
Newly Renovated Office Space
Also Vintage Modern,
Mission & Nakashima Etc.

HIGHEST PRICES PAID
215-663-1813 LOCATED INSIDE
ELKINS PARK HOUSE CONDOMINIUM
7900 OLD YORK ROAD, ELKINS PARK, PA
FIRST FLOOR LOCATION
ALL INQUIRIES: PLEASE CONTACT
THE ELKINS PARK HOUSE
215-635-0601 Sgt. Kleinman
USMC Force Recon.

Jordan Kleinman
Sales Associate
Berkshire Hathaway
Without the right help, buying or selling a
home can be complicated and stressful. It is
my goal to make your purchase or sale go as
quickly and smoothly as possible, so you can
relax and live in the moment.

Call me today to take the stress out of your move.

Also if you have friends, relatives or business
associates looking to purchase or sell please pass
my contract information along to them.

Jordan Kleinman
9218 Ventnor Ave, Margate, NJ 08402
Cell: 609.335.3904
Bus: 609.822.4200 x 6995
jrdkleinman@aol.com www.jordankleinman.foxroach.com
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29