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Reform Leader, KI Rabbi Simeon Maslin Dies at 90
OB ITUARY
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
RABBI SIMEON MASLIN, a
national leader in the Reform
movement and the senior
rabbi at Reform Congregation
Keneseth Israel for 17 years,
died from cancer on Jan. 29.

He was 90.

The rabbi guided the
Elkins Park synagogue from
1980 to 1997, his last stop in
a 50-plus-year career that
included positions in Chicago,
Curaçao and Monroe, New
York. He also served as presi-
dent of the Central Conference
of American Rabbis, an organi-
zation uniting about 2,000
Reform rabbis.

As a Reform leader, Maslin
wrote the book “Gates of
Mitzvah” in 1979, which,
according to current KI
4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Rabbi Lance Sussman, intro-
duced classic Jewish life cycle
practices into the movement.

Before “Gates of Mitzvah,”
the movement focused on
its platform of the moment,
Sussman explained. It would
hold conventions to codify
values like the affirmation of a
belief in God or Zionism.

Maslin’s insight helped
modern Jews go deeper and
conduct baby
namings, marriages and funerals in an
authentic fashion.

The Reform leader was
also a family man who died
surrounded by loved ones
at home, according to his
daughter Naomi Godel. He
is survived by his wife of 67
years, Judith Maslin, his
three children, Godel, David
Maslin and Eve Maslin, as well
as 10 grandchildren and five
great-grandchildren. “He was quite a presence,”
Godel said “He was worthy of
respect and adoration.”
Sussman agreed. KI’s leader
for the past two decades called
the synagogue’s emeritus rabbi
one of his biggest influences.

The younger rabbi, who
is retiring this June, met his
predecessor about 30 years
ago when Maslin was leading
the Central Conference of
American Rabbis. Sussman,
then serving at Temple
Concord in Binghamton, New
York, drove down for a recep-
tion for Reform rabbis at KI.

Since Maslin was president
of the conference, Sussman
already knew of him. But then
he heard the older man speak.

“I was wowed,” the younger
rabbi said. “His sermons were
literary.” Sussman had no idea that,
about a decade later, he would
JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Simeon Maslin
inherit Maslin’s legacy at the
Elkins Park institution. But
when fate brought him back to
KI in 2001, he found a willing
elder in the longtime Reform
leader. The
younger rabbi
described Maslin as “always
Courtesy of Robert Sirota
available” to get lunch, talk on
the phone or exchange emails.

To his successor, the older man
imparted institutional memory
of the synagogue and a rabbi’s
knowledge of how to engage
with its longtime members.

“A congregation is a very
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