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area rabbis and cantors have
emerged from their synagogues,
breathed some fresh fall air and
rediscovered their families and
hobbies. Cantor Lauren Goodlev of
Beth David Reform Congregation
in Gladwyne rediscovers her
family in a profound way.

After a month of late nights
planning services, sometimes
emailing her rabbi, Beth Kalisch,
as early as 3 a.m., Goodlev
uses the fall to work on a more
personal project: making a family
photo album from the past year.

Goodlev has “three little
babies at home,” as her oldest
son is only three-and-a-half. So
each year, her three boys grow
and develop in visible ways,
and she wants to make sure she
chronicles that process.

On Shutterfly, Goodlev
creates a digital album and fills
Cantor Lauren Goodlev, of Beth
David Reform Congregation in
Gladwyne, with her family
Rabbi Abe Friedman
Courtesy of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel
Courtesy of Lauren Goodlev
it with family pictures. Then
she pays for several and gets
Shutterfly to send her the real
books. Every year at Chanukah,
she gives albums to her children’s
grandparents as gifts.

She also keeps one for herself
and her husband.

“With our cell phones, we
take so many pictures,” Goodlev
said. “Otherwise, they’ll get
stuck in the cloud and we’ll
never look at them again.”
Rabbi Abe Friedman of
the Conservative Temple Beth
Zion-Beth Israel in Philadelphia
is in a similar situation as
Goodlev. He’s the parent of four
kids 13 and under, including a
year-old daughter.

So once Simchat Torah
ended, he started taking her to
Fitler Square Park, on Pine Street
between 23rd and 24th streets,
every morning. Friedman does
chalk art on the pavement for his
daughter to observe.

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they’re doing.”
Isaacson did say that Yom
Kippur is a little busier than
other High Holidays, as non-Or-
thodox people come, too, and
the crowd can reach up to 3,000
attendees. But otherwise, the
season is no more hectic than
the months before and after it.

The rabbi said the High
Holiday month might be lighter
than others because there’s less
going on between services.

Once October came this
year, Isaacson started planning
and running more classes.

Beth Solomon operates a small
rabbinical college with seminars
every morning and evening.

“We’re busy,” Isaacson said.

Another more traditional
rabbi, Zalman Blecher of the
Lubavitch of Yardley, a Chabad
center, follows a similar annual
rhythm. For Blecher, just like
for Isaacson, the High Holiday
month is not some climactic
stretch on the Jewish calendar.

It’s the start of a new year.

Therefore, it’s not time to
relax; it’s time to get going.

But Blecher, unlike Isaacson,
does have to work extra during
the High Holidays. He’s often up
until 1 a.m. planning services,
sermons and a marketing
campaign to the public.

Yet Blecher tries not to slow
down too much once the big days
end. This month, the Lubavitch
will resume weekly Torah classes,
start a new class for moms and
babies, hold Shabbat dinners and
even conduct a nature hike at
Tyler Park in Newtown.

“That’s how we’re going to
channel that inspiration of the
holiday season,” Blecher said. l
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10 mornings, he drew a Torah,
a nature scene and a Shabbat
scene, with candles, grape juice
and challah.

“I fell into doing this because
we were there in the park,
and it just went from there,”
Friedman said. “The weather’s
been gorgeous.”
But for Friedman and his
daughter, it’s not just mornings
that they get to spend together.

Now that the rabbi no longer
needs to work seven days a week,
he is his daughter’s primary
caregiver on his day off.

And when she naps, daddy
gets some me time. Friedman
goes down in the basement
to tinker in his electronics
workshop, where he fixes pedals
for electric guitars.

“It’s a little bit sad to see it
go,” the rabbi said of the High
Holidays. “But then it’s like, deep
breath.” Rabbi Solomon Isaacson leads
the Orthodox Congregation
Beth Solomon in Northeast
Philadelphia. As an Orthodox
rabbi, he has a different perspec-
tive than his Reform and
Conservative contemporaries.

For Isaacson, the season
requires almost no extra work
besides giving speeches.

Beth Solomon is considered the
largest Russian synagogue in the
country, Isaacson said. It doesn’t
have a membership model, but it
helps thousands of families, and
many attend Shabbat services
throughout the year.

So when they show up for
the High Holidays, they just
open their prayer books and the
services begin, like any Friday.

“You don’t have to tell them to
stand up or sit down. You don’t
have to call out page numbers,”
Isaacson said. “They know what
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