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Rabbi Yoel Kahn speaks of Congregation Sha'ar Zahav like a proud papa.

But there's plenty left in his wellspring of paternal pride for 5-year-old son Adam, who is one of the motivators behind Kahn's decision to step down from the San Francisco synagogue's pulpit after 11 years.

Since leaving in May, Kahn has been able to parent with abandon, shuttling Adam back and forth to kindergarten and sharing the sort of moments with his son that a pulpit rabbi's busy schedule did not always allow.

"It's been wonderful," says Kahn, who shares parenting responsibilities with partner Dan Bellm. "I drive him to school and pick him up in the afternoon. I'm teaching him to ride a bike — doing all the things that give parents pleasure."

That's not to say deciding to leave Sha'ar Zahav was easy for Kahn. Over more than a decade, he helped nurture the 19-year-old Reform synagogue through adolescence, watching it grow in numbers, breadth and character.

Though the synagogue's membership was once composed of almost entirely of gay and lesbian members, today up to 15 percent of its more than 500 members are heterosexual. While the Castro District congregation once had only a handful of children among its ranks, the synagogue now has a thriving religious school that serves youngsters of kindergarten through bar and bat mitzvah age.

"I think we built a congregation of great strength and commitment," Kahn says.

Leaving "was a tough decision because I loved my pulpit and I loved doing the work," the 37-year-old rabbi says. "But as any pulpit rabbi will tell you, it's an extremely stressful job. [My family and I] now have Shabbat dinner together every week and I don't have to rush out the door. We have hagim [Jewish holidays], weekends together, nights at home."

Aside from family time, Kahn is gearing up to present a dissertation proposal to his advisory committee at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union, where he has been working on his Ph.D. "at a millennial pace," he jokes, for the last several years.

He hopes to focus his dissertation on the merging of liturgy and modern Jewish thought — "on how we say what we mean and mean what we say."

Creative, inclusive liturgy is something for which Sha'ar Zahav is known. Inspired by the synagogue's extensive work in the liturgical realm, Kahn envisions his dissertation as a study of the process of liturgical change in both ancient and modern times.

"The liturgy in our prayer books tends to be very theistic — talking to God, asking God for stuff," he says. "I want to find out how can we still remain clearly within the Jewish liturgical tradition but also have more abstract, more creative ways of talking."

Currently, besides his studies at GTU, Kahn is keeping his wheels of Jewish knowledge greased by teaching an Introduction to Judaism class at the University of San Francisco. In addition, he regularly answers questions in the "Ask a Rabbi" section of America Online's Jewish Community Online forum.

Though not certain exactly what his next job will be, he says he remains open to the possibility of various types of work within the Jewish community. Regardless of the next step, Kahn looks forward to remaining affiliated with Sha'ar Zahav as a member.

"I think it's a congregation that has flourished against a lot of odds," he says. "Almost every member has had to overcome some sense of resistance or rejection, either because they'd been given a strong message that they were unwelcome or never had the benefit of Jewish connection or education."

A replacement for Kahn has not yet been found. But "I'm looking forward to sitting in the pews and listening to the congregation's new rabbi," he says, "whoever that is."