Rabbinic Department: News & Features
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No Hate In Our State
(From: Jackson Free Press. By: Sierra Mannie) Rabbi Jeremy Simons knows his Bible too well to lend credence to people who cherry-pick verses to use it to support House Bill 1523, a law that many criticize as discriminatory against the LGBT community. "If you read those very same pages of the Bible, you will read the commandment: 'You shall not oppress the stranger,'" Simons said at a rally at the state capitol. Read the rest of the story... |
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The Minivan Rabbi of Mississippi
(From: The Forward. By: Anne Cohen and Sigal Samuel) Most rabbis wait for Jews to come to them. Rabbi Jeremy Simons goes to the Jews. As the new itinerant rabbi for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Simons drives through 13 states, serving 110 congregations from Oklahoma to Virginia. Read the rest of the story... |
Going The Distance to Lead the Faithful
(From: The New York Times. By: Emily Jane Fox)
Many communities without a rabbi of their own work throughout the year with the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and its staff rabbi, Jeremy Simons.... Most weekends, he travels from one remote Jewish community to the next in a rented cayenne-red Nissan Cube to lead bar mitzvah services, hold Torah studies and, of course, eat traditional Friday night chicken (only fried, Southern style). Read the rest of the story...
(From: The New York Times. By: Emily Jane Fox)
Many communities without a rabbi of their own work throughout the year with the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and its staff rabbi, Jeremy Simons.... Most weekends, he travels from one remote Jewish community to the next in a rented cayenne-red Nissan Cube to lead bar mitzvah services, hold Torah studies and, of course, eat traditional Friday night chicken (only fried, Southern style). Read the rest of the story...
St. Louis Native Serves as Roving Rabbi to the South
(By Jim Winnerman)
Traveling across 13 Southern states 50 weeks a year, native St. Louisan Rabbi Marshal Klaven has, perhaps, the most unusual "congregation" in the United States. "I (visit) as many as 100 congregations, none of which has a full-time rabbi," says Klaven, 31, who graduated from Parkway North High School and grew up attending Congregation B'nai El. Download the article.
(By Jim Winnerman)
Traveling across 13 Southern states 50 weeks a year, native St. Louisan Rabbi Marshal Klaven has, perhaps, the most unusual "congregation" in the United States. "I (visit) as many as 100 congregations, none of which has a full-time rabbi," says Klaven, 31, who graduated from Parkway North High School and grew up attending Congregation B'nai El. Download the article.
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The ISJL Southern Cycling Sabbatical
by Rabbi Marshal Klaven This spring, the ISJL Rabbinic Department introduced its first Southern Cycling Sabbatical, coordinating a five-community bike trip that took Rabbi Bob Levy of Temple Beth Emeth (Ann Arbor, MI) from the Georgia coast to New Orleans. Along the way, he offered leadership—at religious services, adult education events and more—to small and underserved communities. 
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A loaf of challah, a jug of wine and Rabbi Marshal Klaven
by Andy Muchin It's not easy to find a challah in the Upper Cumberland section of north-central Tennessee. It's even harder to find a rabbi or a usable Torah scroll - except on a recent October weekend. That's when Rabbi Marshal Klaven, director of the Rabbinic Department of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life...
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Chattanooga and others offering help to small, vibrant Jewish communities
by Clint Cooper Jews who live between large metropolitan areas must take on the responsibilities of keeping their communities together as their numbers shrink...
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Traveling Rabbi Serves Tiny Southern Congregations
by Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press Writer As the sun inched below the horizon in this Mississippi River town, people arrived alone or in small groups and walked up the steps of Temple B'nai Israel on Shabbat. Only about a dozen Jewish residents remain in Natchez...
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Cotton, Catfish and Challah: A Tale of A Traveling Rabbi in the South
by Jennie Rothenberg It's early on a sunny Friday in January and the cotton fields of southeast Arkansas are a cold muddy brown. Rabbi Debra Kassoff's blue van streaks down Highway 65, two narrow lanes leading into the town of McGehee. The land here is flat, the arrow-straight highway running parallel to ever-present railroad tracks. Tractor dealerships, catfish eateries and rundown shacks blur by punctuated Baptist churches. Every few miles, a green sign announces another town with a population under 300...
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