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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



COMMUNITY NEWS
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia mobilizes
financial and volunteer resources to address the
communities’ most critical priorities locally, in Israel and
around the world.

M Ethiopian Jews Make Aliyah as
Part of Operation Zur Israel
ichael Balaban, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia, with local philanthropists Lynne and Michael Markman,
joined dozens of other community leaders from Jewish Federations of
North America on a delegation to accompany 180 Ethiopian olim (immigrants) to
Israel on June 1, following a special three-day mission in Ethiopia.

Th e following day, a second fl ight of 160 Ethiopian olim arrived in Ben Gurion
airport. “Excitement, wonder and, yes, a bit of fear. Th ese are the emotions seen on the
faces of our friends as they journey to begin their new lives in Israel,” Balaban
said. “All are leaving the only place they have ever known with excitement to be
going to a place they have only seen in their prayers.”
Th e two fl ights mark the resumption of Operation Zur Israel or Rock of Israel,
an initiative approved by the Israeli government allowing 3,000 members of the
Jewish community in Ethiopia to make aliyah and reunite with their family
members in Israel. Some of the olim have waited over a decade to reunite with
their loved ones and fulfi ll their dreams of aliyah.

“Th e Jewish people in Ethiopia are living in deplorable conditions without
health care, basic plumbing or housing while they struggle to survive to achieve
their dream of moving to Israel,” said Michael Markman, a Jewish Federation
board member, who along with his wife, Lynne, have made contributions over the
years to programs that support Ethiopian immigrants.

During the mission, the leaders met with Ethiopian community members in
Gondar and Addis Ababa, who were waiting to make aliyah to become Israeli
citizens. Other organizations present during the mission included offi cials from Th e
Jewish Agency for Israel, Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, the World
Zionist Organization and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

Outside of the organizational delegations, Minister of Aliyah and Integration
Pnina Tamano-Shata, the fi rst Ethiopian-born woman to enter the Knesset,
accompanied the immigrants on their fl ight. Other notable leaders who partici-
pated in the journey included Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the WZO and acting
chairman of Th e Jewish Agency, and Jeff rey A. Schoenfeld, chair of the Israel and
Overseas Committee of the Jewish Federations of North America.

In addition to more than $100 million in core funding Jewish Federations
raise every year for partner organizations such as the Jewish Agency, which
allows them to both carry out their routine work and prepare for extraordinary
moments such as these, Federations have launched a campaign of more than $7
million for the continuation of aliyah from Ethiopia and for humanitarian assis-
tance for the community still awaiting aliyah.

“Th e North American Jewish community is proud of the way our commu-
nity is stepping up once again to support Ethiopian aliyah,” Jewish Federations
President and CEO Eric Fingerhut said. “Th ese inspiring moments are a reminder
of how important it is to invest in the infrastructure of Jewish support organiza-
tions, which Federations do year in and year out to ensure we are prepared to act
when the need arises.”
As the new immigrants settle in Israel, there are still those remaining in
Ethiopia who are anxious to make aliyah and reunite with their families. When
that time comes, Jewish Federations are ready to continue to help facilitate that
journey, providing hope for Ethiopians long awaiting their homeland.

Aft er his experience in Ethiopia, Markman is even more passionate about
investing in resources for the absorption of immigrants in Israeli society: “As a
Jewish community, we need to band together to save and support these Jewish
souls and work to move them to Israel.”
Ethiopian Jews pray in the synagogue in Gondar, Ethiopia, before making aliyah
as part of Operation Zur Israel.

Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Filled with hope and joy, 180 Ethiopian
olim arrive safely in Israel on June 1.

Courtesy of Maxim Dinshtein for
The Jewish Agency for Israel
The Markmans meet the matriach of
a family of four living in a 10-foot-by-
10-foot room in Gondar, and learn that
they will be making aliyah.

Courtesy of Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 9