H eadlines
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
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H EADLINES
Rabbi Simeon
Maslin with his
wife Judith
Courtesy of Judith
Maslin complex community,” Sussman
said. “To navigate it, you have
to know the people.”
Sussman appreciated the
relationship not only because it
helped him, but because it was
cool for him. He was engaging
with one of his role models in
the Reform movement.

KI’s current rabbi read
“Gates of Mitzvah” before
he ever met Maslin. And
he credited the book with
deepening and revitalizing
Reform Judaism.

Reform Judaism is about
navigating cultural change
and keeping the religion
relevant to each new gener-
ation, according to Sussman.

For most of the movement’s
history, starting in the 1800s,
its leaders succeeded.

At a Pittsburgh convention
in the 1880s, they affi rmed
the concept of God, rejected
kashrut and described the
Jewish experience as religious,
not national or ethnic. During
a Columbus, Ohio, gathering
in the 1930s, leaders moved in
the direction of Zionism and
the idea of Jewish peoplehood.

Th en in the 1970s, they
supported the Civil Rights
Movement while resisting the
Vietnam War. But aft er that,
the Reform movement fell
into a malaise, according to
Sussman. “We’re not marching in the
streets now,” he said. “Where
am I going to go?”
It was Maslin who provided
the answer in “Gates of
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Mitzvah.” Focus on the
timeless traditions that make
up a Jewish life.

“He played that role of
reintroducing tradition into
Reform Judaism,” Sussman said.

Born in 1931 in Winthrop,
Massachusetts, near Boston,
the rabbi graduated from
Harvard University. He became
ordained in 1957 at Hebrew
Union College in Cincinnati.

Th rough his travels, he
stayed close to his hometown,
vacationing in Maine with
his family. He loved boating,
fi shing, the Boston Red Sox and
going on long Sunday drives.

As a retiree, he conducted High
Holiday services at Bowdoin
College in Brunswick, Maine.

But what he perhaps loved
most was spending time with
his grandchildren. During her
eulogy at Maslin’s funeral,
Galia Godel, Maslin’s grand-
daughter, talked fondly of
spending Maine mornings
with him at the Bookland Cafe.

Th ey would eat lox or white-
fi sh on bagels and then read
while sitting together; Galia
preferred books while grandpa
preferred the newspaper.

“I felt so special and grown-
up, that he took me with
him, and was more than a bit
chagrined this week to receive
the same anecdote from more
than one cousin,” Godel told
the audience at KI. “He made
each of us feel special.” ●
February 27, 2022
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