never saw it as some divine path toward becoming a
rabbi. As he put it, he just wanted to grow into a “well-ed-
ucated Jew.”
“My attitude was the world doesn’t need necessar-
ily another rabbi,” he said. “But what we do need is
Jews in the pews who know what’s going on.”
Th at attitude motivated him to sign up for a
prayer leadership training program called the Jewish
Renewal Movement. Led by Philadelphia-area rab-
bis Marcia Prager and Shawn Zevit, the program
included four one-week retreats over a two-year
period. Its goal was to “help people bring more spiri-
tuality into prayer practice,” Goodman said.

What Goodman got out of it was a series of “amaz-
ing prayer experiences,” as he described them. In
his AP days, he had covered church events and seen
Christians lose themselves in prayer. But he had
never really seen that among his own people.

Until the Jewish Renewal retreats.

“I said, ‘Th is is great.’ We need more of what they’re
having,” he recalled.

Goodman went on the retreats in 2011 and ’12,
around the same time that he was forced to consider
retiring from the AP or getting a new job, as his
pension would kick in at age 65. So when he asked
himself what he wanted to do next, the answer was
sitting there in his mind.

“I should apply to rabbinic school,” he said.

In 2015, Goodman loaded up his Ford and drove to
Philadelphia. During his seven years at the RRC, he
taught Hebrew at Kol Tzedek in West Philadelphia,
Rabbi David N. Goodman receives a round of applause from
classmates at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s May
22 graduation ceremony at Congregation Beth Or in Ambler.

Photo by Jordan Cassway
served as the student rabbi at West Chester University
and got hired as an intern at Nafshenu in 2020. He
also met his new wife, Pearl Raz, and they have been
married for 2½ years.

Goodman became full time at Nafshenu because
congregants just liked him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man not smile,”
said Rachael Blumer, 36, a synagogue member.

Lisa Lichtman, another Nafshenu congregant,
interviewed Goodman for his initial intern position.

“Going back aft er retiring, that says a lot about
somebody’s growth, right?” she said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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