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Summer Breaks
Necessary as
Rabbis Dodge
Burnout SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
T his year, 5782, is a Jewish leap
year, where a second month of
Adar is added to the calendar,
creating another roomy 30 days in the
year. For a kid, this is like adding an
extra July to the calendar, a prospect of
another full month of summer camp,
time down the shore or numbing the
brain in front of a television screen.

For rabbis, however, this summer
period — though it is a buff er between
the major holidays of Shavuot and
Rosh Hashanah — is less spacious.

Th ough many spiritual leaders take a
break over the summer, fi nding time to
mentally and emotionally recharge is a
diffi cult task.

Breaks aren’t out of the question:
Clergy-led Shabbat services are in a lull
over the summer at Mishkan Shalom in
Philadelphia, with Rabbi Shawn Zevit
leading one Shabbat service a month;
that allows him to take time to grab a
break and take care of his grandchil-
dren who stay with him and his wife
for a week. Th e Reconstructionist syn-
agogue is also moving services to Zoom
for the season, allowing more people to
attend at their leisure and taking pres-
sure off of volunteer greeters.

But for other synagogues, work con-
tinues despite religious and preschools
going dormant for the season. Marlton,
New Jersey-based Congregation Beth
Tikvah Rabbi Nathan Weiner is hard
at work on next year’s curriculums. He
also does programming for the JCC
Camps at Medford’s fi rst week at the
end of June. When he’s not onboarding
the synagogue’s new employee, he’s
planning simchas for Shabbat and out-
lining pamphlet content for the High
Holidays. Rabbi Abe Friedman of Philadelphia’s
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel is plan-
ning for Rosh Hashanah, too, hoping
Rabbi Nathan Weiner at the JCC Camps at Medford, where he conducts
programming for a week in June prior to his July vacation
Courtesy of Nathan Weiner
to have the bulk of the work done by
the time he takes his vacation to his
wife’s family’s house in the Berkshires
in western Massachusetts.

For rabbis, these breaks are neces-
sary. But because of the ongoing work
during the summer, a trip away has to
be intentional.

“You have to make Shabbos,” Weiner
said. In Jerusalem, before the calm of
Shabbat, it’s calamity, Weiner said. To
observe Shabbat, there’s immense plan-
ning that has to take place. Th e same is
true of a vacation.

Friedman doesn’t check his email
during his vacation. Until a couple of
years ago, the family vacation home
didn’t even have internet. He takes
the same attitude for his days off on
Tuesdays, choosing to set clear work
boundaries. “I am no more willing to compro-
mise it than I would be to compromise
the actual Shabbat,” he said.

But creating boundaries, particularly
in the age of technology, has proven
diffi cult for some rabbis.

“It’s very important and impossible”
to set boundaries as a rabbi, Maple
Glen-based Congregation Beth Or
Rabbi Gregory Marx said.

“Th ere’s always somebody in need in
a congregation,” he said. “And I always
feel that sense of, ‘Oh, I really should be
calling this person,’ and so that sense
of obligation and mitzvah is always
hovering.” See Breaks, Page 33
Fairwold Academy Dedicates
Building to Rabbi, Psychologist
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
T he Fairwold Academy named
and dedicated its building on
June 10 to honor employee,
longtime psychologist and Rabbi Gary
Feldman. Feldman worked as the school psy-
chologist for seven years at the Fort
Washington-based Fairworld Academy,
an approved private school for students
with disabilities and accessibility needs
and part of the nonprofi t Public Health
Management Corp.

8 JUNE 16, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Th e dedication ceremony consisted of
a faculty and family gathering in the
building’s auditorium, a video tribute to
Feldman and the display of a painting
titled “Hallelujah! Sing a New Song!” by
Feldman’s wife Ruth Feldman in honor
of her husband.

June 10 marked the one-year yahrzeit
of Feldman’s death; he died at 73. On
the same day as the dedication, many of
his family members attended his unveil-
ing ceremony in Israel; the coincidental
timing of the two events was beshert, or
destiny, according to Ruth Feldman.

“He was so dedicated to working with
students with disabilities, and felt in a
very humble way that the knowledge and
experience that he had needed to con-
tinue to be imparted on others, so that
the students would be able to benefi t,”
said Amy Grossman, director of admis-
sions at PHMC and colleague of Feldman
who coordinated the dedication eff orts.

Grossman experienced firsthand
Feldman’s care for others. In 2011,
Grossman lost a child and, despite not
having a close friendship, Feldman wrote
her a letter.

“His words were just so meaningful,
and the fact that he took the time to do
that was one of the most special things
that happened to me during my period of
such intense grief,” Grossman said. “I just
will always love him, and he will always
have a special place in my heart.”
Before Fairwold, Feldman served as
the coordinator of School Psychological
Services at the School District of
Philadelphia, where he helped provide
resources for teachers with students with
disabilities and accommodation needs.

“Gary was the type of person whose
assessment skills were just top notch,”
See Fairwold, Page 33