The founder and leader of Congregation Torath Emeth, a small community in San Francisco that serves mostly Russian émigrés, died Thursday, March 23. Bernard “Bernie” Rotenberg was 82.
Rotenberg was born Feb. 22, 1924, in Posen, Germany. His father was a chazzan (cantor), mohel and shochet (ritual slaughterer). When Rotenberg was a young child, the family moved to Berlin so his father could sing at the Great Synagogue.
Right after Kristallnacht the family fled to China. They went to Tientsin.
While in China, Rotenberg met Irene Rafkin, whom he would later marry. But first, he went to the United States for a visit. Even though he was not a citizen, he was drafted and spent a year at Fort Hood in Texas as a soldier in the U.S. Army.
When he got out, he went to Israel to join Rafkin. They married April 18, 1950. In 1955, they came to the United States and settled in Baltimore. In 1960, they took a vacation to San Francisco and decided to move.
Upon arrival, Rotenberg got a job as an accountant with Greyhound Lines, but his true love was the Jewish community. The family first joined Congregation Anshey Sfard, where Rotenberg ran the religious school.
Once the Russian immigration began in the 1970s, Rotenberg wanted to help the émigrés. His family started attending Congregation Chevre Thilim, but later, Rotenberg and a few others decided to go out on their own and found a new shul specifically for the Russians.
They rented a flat and met in the living room, where they still meet today. “We saw that the [S.F.-based Jewish Community] Federation was supporting immigrants economically — but what about their spiritual needs?” Rotenberg said in a 1993 article with the then-Jewish Bulletin.
In addition to serving as service leader, Rotenberg taught the émigrés Jewish history, Hebrew and Talmud. Services were usually preceded with a group of men coming together to drink a little coffee — sometimes vodka — and eat a little cake.
Rotenberg created a service that allowed almost all to participate, regardless of their level of knowledge.
“We make a point of calling all of our regular participants to read from the Torah,” he said in 1993. Often, the émigrés led prayers or read from the Hebrew transliterated into Russian.
Rotenberg never asked for money from anyone who attended services. However, once in awhile someone from outside their immediate community would be drawn to his Talmud class. One such person who loved to study Talmud with Rotenberg left the synagogue $10,000 in his will.
Several women, including Rotenberg’s wife, participated in his classes.
Noting that social action is usually connected to the Reform world, son Mark Rotenberg of Los Angeles, said, “My father was one of the people in the Orthodox community that really made social action his focus.”
Rotenberg’s other son, Michael, also of Los Angeles, recalled that when he was a child, his father was “always out visiting someone who was sick, or doing something for someone else.”
Rotenberg was also a prolific sculptor. While he had offers to sell his work, he had no desire, doing them only for himself. Many of his works had Jewish themes, and quite a few had vivid Holocaust imagery.
“He was not a particularly emotional or talkative person,” said son Michael, “but his art is so emotional. It was really cathartic for him.”
Both sons are active in the Jewish community in Los Angeles, and attributed their involvement to their father’s influence.
In addition to his wife, Irene, of San Francisco, and his two sons, Rotenberg is survived by his brother, Wolf Rotenberg of Baltimore; two grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
Donations can be made to Congregation Torath Emeth, 768 27th Ave., S.F. CA, 94121.