last word
LAST WORD
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
W hen Jerome P. David was
11 or 12 years old, he con-
vinced his parents to join
a synagogue. He doesn’t remember the
exact reason why; he just remembers
feeling strongly about it.

David’s Holocaust-survivor parents
said yes, even though they had moved
away from the religion after their har-
rowing experience.

“Parents of that background would
not deny any wish their children had,”
David said.

A couple of years later, the young boy
was on the bimah becoming a man on
his bar mitzvah day, and his rabbi told
both him and the audience that, “We
now know where our next rabbi will be
coming from.”
“He saw it in me,” David said of his
rabbi. The thought had not yet crossed
David’s mind — but it would go on to
define the rest of his life.

David retired in June of 2021 after
47 years leading Temple Emanuel, a
Reform synagogue in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey. After growing up and attending rab-
binical school in Cincinnati, he arrived
in South Jersey for his first job in
1974. Before interviewing with Temple
Emanuel, he didn’t even know where
Cherry Hill was, but then he never left.

David started his career with a two-
year contract, but after those first two
years, both sides ripped it up. David
worked for the next four-plus decades
on “a relationship of good faith,” as he
described it, though he did, of course,
get paid.

The young rabbi served as an asso-
ciate for 10 years to his mentor, Ed
Soslow. But when Soslow died in 1987,
David stepped forward to carry on his
legacy. He would remain in his senior
position for the next 34 years.

David started thinking about retire-
ment near the end of the 2010s, and by
40 the summer of 2020, he was ready; he
just wanted to announce it on his own
terms. During a Yom Kippur service
that fall, David gave a sermon about
change. “How we learn in the Talmud that
that first step is always the hardest,”
he said. “But I was ready to take that
first step.”
His decision cleared the way for
Temple Emanuel to merge with another
Reform congregation in Cherry Hill,
M’kor Shalom. Leaders at both syna-
gogues knew that, in a time of declin-
ing synagogue attendance, they would
be stronger if they unified their mem-
MARCH 24, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
berships of roughly 300-350 families
each and their resources, according
to M’kor Shalom President Drew
Molotsky. They just didn’t want to choose
between their respective rabbis, David
and Rabbi Jennifer Frenkel at M’kor
Shalom, both of whom were well-liked.

David’s readiness and willingness to
take his first step toward his next chap-
ter made for a smooth transition at the
top of the unified congregation’s spiri-
tual hierarchy.

But the rabbi emeritus will remain
active in the congregational life of the
temple he helped build. He’s going to
teach a conversion class and a Torah
study class, as well as the occasional
religious school program; he’s also
going to remain involved with the syn-
agogue’s philanthropy.

At the same time, David is going to
“retire to something,” he said. Actually,
the rabbi emeritus is retiring to many
things: his morning Peloton session,
his hobbies of cooking and gardening
and, most importantly, his wife Peggy
and their three children and seven
grandchildren. Two of David’s sons live in the
Philadelphia area, including Benjamin
David, the incoming rabbi at
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins
Park. His other son lives in North
Jersey. But as he enjoys retirement, David
also reflects.

“Shalom means many things, but it
means to be complete and to be whole,
and that’s how I feel,” he said.

David’s name is on the education
wing of Temple Emanuel’s building,
which will become the home of the
unified congregation. The rabbi emer-
itus opened the preschool at the syna-
gogue and, to this day, it has a waiting
list. But his legacy is inside both the
building and its many inhabitants.

David Chasen, Temple Emanuel’s
president and a congregant for 26 years,
said that David was good at the big
part of the job, like running weddings,
funerals and bar and bat mitzvahs. But
it was the “series of little gestures” that
made an impact.

After Chasen lost his grandfather,
he was walking out of a meeting at
the synagogue when David spotted
him. He walked over, put his arm on
Chasen’s shoulder and said, “If you
need anything I’m here.”
Jessica Manelis, an Emanuel member
for 30 years, remembered that when
her mother was sick, David would call
her even though she was not even a
congregant. And he kept calling even
when she was on the mend. JE
Courtesy of Temple Emanuel
Rabbi Jerome P. David



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