synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Beth Tikvah-B’nai Jeshurun
I t’s a new era at Beth Tikvah-B’nai
Jeshurun in Erdenheim.

In a May 17 email, the syna-
gogue announced the hiring of a new
senior rabbi in Roni Handler and a
new director of congregational music
in Benjamin Greenfield.

Both Handler and Greenfield were
already working at the Montgomery
County synagogue. Handler is replac-
ing the retiring Saul Grife as senior
rabbi, and Greenfield is moving into a
full-time role.

Handler and Greenfield arrived at
BTBJ in 2017, and the similarities don’t
end there. Both proved themselves to
congregants in the education wing of
the synagogue, with Handler serving
as director of congregational learning
and Greenfield guiding the bar and bat
mitzvah tutoring program.

“Having those connections with
children and families is so important
to the future of the synagogue, and to
connect with families who want to join
the synagogue,” said Michael Drossner,
the temple’s outgoing president and a
longtime member.

BTBJ lay leaders could have easily
handed the senior rabbi position to
Handler, a rabbi they liked who was
already on site. But they didn’t. Instead,
they conducted a real search for Grife’s
replacement, considering dozens of
candidates through both the first and
second rounds.

While bias can never be discounted in
a situation like that, Handler nonethe-
less stood out, according to Drossner.

Her work transforming BTBJ’s reli-
gious school is convincing, he added.

Over the past five years, Handler
introduced a mentorship program in
which sixth graders partner with older
students. She has also implemented an
approach to bar and bat mitzvah prep
in which students discuss the meaning
of the day instead of just practicing
their Torah portions.

Drossner said feedback from parents
of religious school students played a
28 JUNE 2, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
major role in the decision.

“Rabbi Handler is respected as an
educator,” he said. “She understands
our culture and community.”
She also likes the synagogue’s culture
and community, and that’s why she’s
excited to stay.

“I have found it to be just a really
supportive, compassionate and inclusive
and warm place to be,” Handler said.

Before his promotion, Greenfield’s
role was less defined than Handler’s
role as associate rabbi. Over the past
few years, the cantor just kept taking
on more important assignments.

What started as cantorial work on
the weekends and some b’nai mitzvah
tutoring grew into a leading role as
b’nai mitzvah tutor. Greenfield was
that good at it.

Drossner’s son just went through
the bar mitzvah process, becoming a
man in September. The president cred-
ited Greenfield for making the process
“thorough.” “He’s wonderful for the kids,”
Drossner said. “Just phenomenal to
work with.”
Greenfield, for his part, called it “an
honor” to be made full time. He found
the synagogue to be “warm and invit-
ing” from the day he started.

But it was his work with bar and bat
mitzvah students that really convinced
him that BTBJ was the place for him.

The cantor not only enjoys working with
students but with their families, too.

“We’ve become like one big family,”
he said.

Working one-on-one with kids as
they transition into adulthood is a
“special and sacred duty,” Greenfield
added. He is consistently impressed
with the questions the students ask and
with how much they grow during the
process. The cantor compared those 9-12
months of preparation to putting up a
building. First, you lay the foundation
and then, over time, with each passing
day, the structure comes into form.

“And the day of, or in a lot of cases
three weeks to a month before, they
are ready to get up and do this,”
Beth Tikvah-B’nai Jeshurun in Erdenheim
Rabbi Roni Handler and Cantor Benjamin Greenfield
Greenfield said.

The cantor’s ability to make students
feel comfortable helps them grow. And
it’s that culture that BTBJ is trying to
continue with both of its new leaders.

When Drossner was growing up, he
had to wear a suit to his synagogue, he
said. At BTBJ, he can dress casually.

Rabbi Handler and Cantor Greenfield
have already played a big role in main-
taining this comfortable environment.

It is also what drew both of them into
the synagogue.

At the same time, congregants are
not afraid to think outside the box,
according to Handler. In the wake of
the pandemic, BTBJ now hosts hybrid
Shabbat services in person and over a
livestream. No idea is a bad idea among
BTBJ leaders and congregants.

It is that balance between comfort
and creativity that the new leaders are
excited to try and maintain.

“The more I work in the community,
the more I get to know it and feel at
home,” Handler said.

“She and I have a fantastic work-
ing relationship,” Greenfield added of
Handler. “It is a joy to share the bimah
with her.” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Beth Tikvah-B’nai Jeshurun
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
BTBJ Welcomes New
(But Familiar) Leaders



d’var torah
Escaping the Wilderness
BY RABBI LINDA HOLTZMAN
I Parshat B’midbar
t sometimes feels as if we are all
b’midbar, in the wilderness, uncer-
tain as to what to do next. In the
wake of the horrifi c shooting at an ele-
mentary school in Uvalde, Texas, I am
feeling that way.

Are we really living in a country
that we can be proud of — one that
is moving toward greater peace and
justice? Or are we wandering in a wil-
derness with no clarity about how to
stop the shootings and killings and
the overwhelming gun violence from
continuing? Of all the countries in the
developed world, the United States has
the highest percentage of deaths by gun
violence, signifi cantly higher than all
the others.

During the days aft er the mass kill-
ing in Uvalde, we all witnessed the
usual, now too-familiar response: tears
and prayers, a desire to stand with the
bereaved and saddened parents, friends
and family of those killed, and poli-
ticians shouting about the need to do
more to end this gun violence epidemic.

Yet the next night in Philadelphia
there was a shooting that injured three
people and, in the days since, there
have been many more shootings and
killings. As the headlines about Uvalde fade,
the will to do something real about
ending the scourge of gun violence in
our country will lessen, and the serious
work that it will take for us to make
a real diff erence will dissipate. But it
is so clear that we need to do some-
thing right now! Th is week’s parsha,
B’midbar, gives us some hints about
what needs to be done.

Th e fi rst word in the parsha, in the
whole book that we are starting to read,
grounds us in the wilderness. Here we
are with little clarity or certainty about
what will happen next — about what
we need to do.

In the midbar, anything can happen.

And in this book, so many strange
things take place: A donkey talks, an
overabundance of quail descends for
the people to eat, Moses hits a rock
and water fl ows out for the people,
and there’s a mutiny in the Israelite
camp. Th e start of the book, however,
the section we read this week, gives us
guidance about how to weather these
challenges. First is the acceptance of the fact that
we are all wandering in a wilderness.

When we think that we know what
will happen next, when we think we
are in control in life, we need to face
the truth. Just like the Israelites, none
of us are in control. We are b’midbar
where anything can happen. People
plan, and God laughs is truer each day.

So we enter the wilderness, and then?
We aimlessly wander accepting all that
we are given? Clearly not!
Th e rest of the Torah portion is not
about aimless wandering at all. Th e
Israelites organize their camp accord-
ing to precise directions, fi nd a way
to create a safe, solid community, and
organize their space and their commu-
nity in thoughtful ways. Th ey establish
a census and pay careful attention to
who is in the community, to what
everyone’s needs are and to what each
individual can contribute to all.

At the heart of the community is
the mishkan, the Tabernacle where the
presence of God dwells; this guarantees
that no one can ever forget that the
community is a holy one with its core
values always at its heart.

In our world, we have entered the
midbar, and we seem to be waiting
for something to act to organize our
community to stand up against the
gun violence that is taking over. Th ere
is no one who is going to do the needed
work except us. We need to keep our
mishkan — our deepest values — in
our heart and realize that by simply
arming more people and giving the
police more power and trying to guard
our children’s schools, we are not doing
the work that will build a safe, solid
community. We are not following the
Israelites’ example of doing thoughtful
work in the face of uncertainty.

It is time for us to stop jumping for
quick fi xes whenever there is a shooting
and to do the serious organizing and
planning that can make real change.

We can start by:
— providing fair and equal educa-
tion to all students in our city’s schools.

— bringing jobs with livable wages
to every Philadelphia neighborhood.

— creating youth programming that
is creative and inviting for children in
every neighborhood in Philadelphia.

— electing representatives who will
keep guns off the streets and out of the
hands of those who should not have
them. — changing the system to have non-
police responders give people in emer-
gency situations the care they need.

— fi xing the streets and lights and all
that is broken and overlooked in many
Philadelphia neighborhoods.

— and so much more.

Th ere are so many ways to step up to
face the challenges that gun violence
brings to our city. Together, we can
work to create a safe and solid commu-
nity with peace and justice at its heart.

Once we are in the midbar, we have no
choice. JE
Rabbi Linda Holtzman is on the fac-
ulty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College and is the rabbi of the Tikkun
Olam Chavurah. Th e Board of Rabbis
of Greater Philadelphia is proud to pro-
vide diverse perspectives on Torah com-
mentary for the Jewish Exponent. Th e
opinions expressed in this column are
the author’s own and do not refl ect the
view of the Board of Rabbis.

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