Except for the 90 percent humidity and occasional hurricane, Houston’s suburbs seem a lot like the East Bay city of Fremont. At least that’s Rabbi Avi Schulman’s impression so far.
He should know. Schulman is the new rabbi at Fremont’s Temple Beth Torah, a native Californian returning after 11 years at a Reform synagogue in Missouri City, Texas, just south of Houston.
Similar how? “The neatly kept homes, a well-maintained suburban lifestyle,” he says, “and the people are wonderfully friendly and hospitable. Both are mid-size congregations. You really get to know the people that way.”
Following Rabbi Steven Kaplan — Beth Torah’s spiritual leader for 27 years — Schulman knows he has big shoes to fill. He respects the traditions of the 45-year-old congregation, but with 27 years as a pulpit rabbi under his belt, Schulman looks forward to putting his own stamp on things.
“Because of the level of my experience and self-knowledge, I’m more a proponent of change,” he said. “Not for the sake of change, but to express my own priorities and sense of spirituality. I will listen carefully to what members have to say.”
Naturally, the move west was a family affair. Schulman’s wife, Rabbi Eve Ben-Orr, is the newly appointed education director at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. The couple has three children, two school age and a third in college.
Raised in Long Beach, Calif., in a Reform household, Schulman was heavily influenced by Rabbi Wolli Kaelter, the spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Long Beach. As a student at U.C. Santa Cruz, he met other highly motivated Jewish students, many who went on to positions of leadership, including S.F. Congregation Sherith Israel’s Rabbi Larry Raphael and Congregation Beth Am’s Rabbi Janet Marder .
A year of study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem further cemented his connection to Jewish history and culture. He returned to California, settling in the East Bay for a while and serving as a Hebrew school teacher at Oakland’s Temple Beth Abraham. He was edging toward the rabbinate but, still young, was afraid of “selling out to the establishment.”
He finally took the plunge and now says, “I prefer to say I bought in.” Since then he has served congregations across the country, with Houston the longest stop so far.
So what’s it like living in a two-rabbi household?
“If anyone thinks all we talk about is passages in the Talmud, forget it,” he says. “It’s normal, everyday family stuff. But the fact that we both work in the Jewish community has its advantages. We understand the dynamics.”
In addition to universal Jewish concerns about global anti-Semitism, Israel’s security and the rise of a nuclear Iran, Schulman has a few key domestic issues on his agenda. “The challenge of living as a Jew in an open society. How do we address that dynamic, and how, especially, do we engage younger Jews?” he wonders.
Though he’ll miss his friends from Houston (not to mention the barbecue), Schulman is thrilled to start over in his former stomping ground.
“Being back in Northern California, serving a new congregation, helps reawaken me in a new and energizing way,” he said.