synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Keneseth Israel Starts a New Era
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
W ith its 800 families, 175
years of history and
important programs like
the Temple Judea Museum, Reform
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins
Park remains one of the area’s most
prominent synagogues.

And this summer, it welcomes a new
rabbi in Benjamin David.

Th e 45-year-old marathon runner
is replacing the 67-year-old Jewish
historian Lance Sussman. Th e latter
announced his retirement last summer
and formally stepped down on July
1, opening the door for his succes-
sor. Sussman led KI for 21 years aft er
moving to Elkins Park from Temple
Concord in Binghamton, New York, a
congregation of about 250 families.

David, like Sussman, is leaving a
smaller community for a bigger one.

His former home, Adath Emanu-El in
Mount Laurel, New Jersey, has a little
less than 400 members.

In the weeks and months leading
up to July 1, the two rabbis, one of
Generation X and the other a baby
boomer, spent time together.

“I think he’s much more athletic than
I am. He’s a distance runner,” Sussman
said, laughing.

Endurance is a quality David will
need if he’s going to learn the dynamics
of such a big community.

Sussman explained to him that
inside KI, there are diff erent cohorts.

Th ere’s a preschool community, a
religious school community, a social
action group, an adult education group
and a museum team.

Members “cluster around their inter-
ests,” the older man said. It is on David
to “learn all of them and how they work
together,” he added.

David must build a calendar in which
every cohort has space to do its thing.

But he also needs to fi nd areas where
diff erent groups can cooperate.

“Can you bring religious school fam-
ilies in to talk to preschool families?”
Sussman asked.

Sussman’s other big lesson was about
governance. Sussman has a Ph.D. in
24 JULY 7, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
American Jewish history and has taught
such classes at Princeton University, so
he compares KI’s political philosophy
to that of the United States.

“It’s a congregation of, by and for the
congregants,” he explained.

David will need members to be faith-
ful Jews who fi ll the pews, hard workers
who keep the building running and
philanthropists who pay for it all. To
get that kind of commitment, he will
have to continue to give congregants
the say they have come to expect.

KI has a board of directors that
decides on policy and a board of trust-
ees that votes on budget items. Th e lat-
ter includes almost 100 people and acts
as a sort of House of Representatives
to the board of directors’ Senate.

Th e Elkins Park synagogue also has
a senior staff of three leaders in the
senior rabbi, Cantor Amy Levy and
Executive Director Brian Rissinger.

Early on, David must learn how those
branches “interface,” as Sussman put it.

“To know the people. Th at is really
core,” the older rabbi added. “And to
help them feel good on behalf of the
synagogue.” Before moving to Jenkintown to lead
KI, David served as senior rabbi for
10 years at Adath Emanu-El, so he is
familiar with this process. He also
grew up as the son of a rabbi, Jerome
P. David, who led Temple Emanuel in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for 47 years.

Th e younger David even ended up at KI
many times growing up; he was active
in NFTY, the youth organization for
Reform Jews.

If there was anyone who was prepared
for this position, it was probably David.

Yet he still found Sussman’s counsel to
be invaluable. He just described it as
two men having a quality conversation
“about what a remarkable community
this is and what a privilege it is to be the
rabbi there,” David said.

David, his wife Lisa and their three
children moved to Jenkintown in June.

He chuckled when he described the
transition as “brutal,” with “a lot of
boxes, time and schlepping.”
Now though, he “can’t wait to start,”
he said.

Th e new rabbi plans on spending his
Rabbi Lance Sussman
Courtesy of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Rabbi Benjamin David
Photo by Colin Lenton
fi rst several months getting “slowly,
slowly acclimated to this wonderful
community and opportunity.” He
knows that he probably does not need
to change much. But he does still have
a couple of ideas based on his conversa-
tions with Sussman.

David wants KI’s 10th-grade pro-
gram to bring in speakers from dif-
ferent faiths. Th e rabbi also hopes to
start an 11th- and 12th-grade program
in which he takes students out to four
to six dinners a year so they can talk
about life.

“He acknowledged that coming off of
COVID, this is an area that’s going to
need attention,” David said of Sussman.

“Our kids got out of practice of being in
the synagogue and being amongst their
friends in the Jewish community.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com