synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Temple Har Zion
Temple Har Zion Hires
New Rabbi Adam Lautman
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
G rowing up in a Conservative
synagogue in Livingston,
New Jersey, Adam Lautman
felt invisible. It was the early 2000s, and
Jewish culture seemed all about “nice
Jewish boys meeting nice Jewish girls
and having nice Jewish babies,” he said.

For a gay teen, the situation was
“challenging.” But at the same time,
Lautman felt a connection with
Judaism. He even looked in a Jewish
Theological Seminary catalog at one
point to see if he could become a
cantor. But then he read that JTS was
not accepting homosexuals for that
program. It was not until the early 2010s, while
a student at Rutgers University, that
Lautman found his place: Nehirim,
a Jewish spirituality community for
LGBTQ people. During retreats and
other gatherings, Lautman grew to love
reading, studying and discussing the
Torah. He also realized that a gay man
could be out of the closet as a Jew.

Today, Lautman, 33, is not just an out
and proud Jew. He’s a rabbi, ordained in
2020 at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies in Los Angeles.

And after serving in a variety of rab-
binical jobs for the past two years, he’s
taking over his first senior rabbi role
at Temple Har Zion in Mount Holly,
New Jersey. The 50-family congrega-
tion gathers in its white, architecturally
striking domed sanctuary at 255 High
St., just steps away from Mount Holly’s
downtown. Inside, it has a small but
cozy social hall and a hallway of offices.

But after two pandemic years that
forced congregants to worship from
home, it feels quiet inside. Lautman
is the synagogue’s only full-time
employee and the first rabbi on the
payroll since Cynthia Kravitz left in
January of 2021. And while a solid 20
or so people attend Shabbat services
weekly, the temple no longer offers a
religious school like it did before 2020.

The rabbi who once felt invisible in
his Jewish community is taking over
the leadership of a congregation look-
ing to increase its visibility.

“I have a story of sort of having to find
my way into the Jewish community and
forming that relationship with God and
my relationship with the Jewish com-
munity, as opposed to always having
it be spread out before me and easy,”
Lautman said. “That makes it helpful
and easy to connect with people who
are struggling with their Judaism, who
aren’t as connected and to empathize
and to be there for people.”
But while Lautman understands the
challenge of revitalizing the synagogue,
his mindset is not growth, growth,
growth. For now, he just wants to get to
know the congregation’s devoted mem-
bers, most of whom are older.

Even if the temple grows in the long
run, the rabbi hopes to remain focused
on making deep connections with
members. That’s why right now the first
step is to come back together in person
“a lot more,” he explained.

“So many people of all ages are
craving connection,” the rabbi added.

“There’s a wonderful opportunity
here to provide those opportunities
for people.”
Temple Har Zion is 85 years old.

From 1985 to 2017, Rabbi Richard
Simon led the congregation. Then
Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum replaced
Simon for two years from 2017 to 2019.

After Berenbaum, Kravitz served from
January 2020 to January 2021 before
stepping away into a semi-retirement.

Kravitz, though, was part-time. But
before hiring Lautman, the synagogue’s
board of trustees decided to bring on a
full-time spiritual leader again.

Laura Markowitz, a board member
and the chair of the search committee,
said they felt it was important for Har
Zion and the rabbi to commit to each
other. The shul had always run on a
full-time clergy model with volunteers
handling all of the other synagogue
duties, and it could so again, the trust-
ees believed.

Over the past year-and-a-half,
Hazzan Evlyn Gould, who lives on the
West Coast, served as a sort of rent-a-
Rabbi Adam Lautman in his office at Temple Har Zion in Mount Holly, New Jersey,
on Aug. 18
Photos by Jarrad Saffren
Temple Har Zion at 255 High St. in Mount Holly
rabbi when Har Zion needed someone
to come in, like on the High Holidays.

With the temple reopening, it was time
for the board to find its leader again.

“It was important to have some-
body full-time and in the area,”
Markowitz said. “The board feels that
it’s important, and it’s important to
the members.”
And then Lautman came for his
in-person interview/try-out. As he led
a service from the bimah, Markowitz
had a moment.

“I sat there and looked at him and
said, ‘It’s a match,’” she recalled. “It just
hit me. I didn’t think it. I felt it.”
Lautman moved to Cherry Hill on
July 25 with his cat Buffy. JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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