Introducing - Lynn Gottlieb - our new DJC rabbi
The DJC Board is delighted to introduce our new Rabbi, Lynn Gottlieb. Rabbi Lynn is an inspiring and deeply knowledgeable leader who brings many years experience to our community. A multi-talented woman, she draws liberally upon story-telling, music and puppetry to engage and connect with her listeners. We are very excited about working with her to build our services and programming to the next level.
How did we find Rabbi Lynn?
Finding a Rabbi is a little more difficult and complicated than shopping for other kinds of goods and services. When you are the DJC, given our relatively small size, part-time rabbinical needs, and passionately felt values, it can be even harder! In the past, we have followed different paths, some more open and participative, some less, some competitive processes with several candidates, others not. This time around, we learned of Rabbi Lynn from a DJC member, followed up, and were quite frankly, knocked out. A Rabbi Review Group consisting of Board and non-Board representatives was quickly formed in January, and through a series of phone and face-to-face interviews, came to an enthusiastic and resounding agreement to offer her the job.
What are we hiring Rabbi Lynn to do?
As was the case with our last two rabbis, Rabbi Lynn lives in the United States (San Francisco) and will fly to Toronto on a planned, regular basis for events and to meet with DJC members. She will lead our High Holiday services; she will visit one weekend a month to lead a Shabbat service and other learning and community events. She will be our spiritual guide and a co-developer and coach in identifying and delivering other important community initiatives.
Brief Bio for Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
In 1973 Lynn Gottlieb entered pulpit life as rabbi to Temple Beth Or of the Deaf in New York City. In 1981, she became the first female rabbi in the Jewish Renewal Movement. Her focus on creativity, activism, feminism, and spiritual meaning helped shape the Jewish Renewal Movement. In 1974, she founded a Jewish theatre troupe, Bat Kol, which brought feminist midrashim and ceremony to hundreds of communities throughout North America and Europe. In 1983, she moved to Albuquerque and helped found Congregation Nahalat Shalom. She was a co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk that created pilgrimages between synagogues and mosques throughout the US and Canada. Rabbi Lynn recently moved to Southern California to head a new organization called Interfaith Inventions. As part of her work, she is exploring the way globalization impacts the lives of young women around the world.
Stay Tuned
Rabbi Lynn will be here for a visit sometime before the High Holidays and that will be a great opportunity for you to meet her.
Message from Rabbi Lynn
Dear members of Danforth Jewish Circle,
Shalom Aleichem. Peace be upon you. I am so excited to meet you, study, pray and engage Jewish life in a meaningful way with you!
Recently I was asked by a doctoral student writing a thesis on women rabbis, “Who were your greatest mentors among the rabbis?” As I considered the question, I realized that even greater than the wonderful rabbis who have been my teachers and friends for the past 36 years, I have learned the most, and received spiritual inspiration, from the congregations and communities I have had the honor to service. This reminds me of a story. (As my friends say, everything reminds me of a story.)
Once the Baal Shem Tov stood in the midst of a ring of trees in the forest of his town. He lifted his gaze skyward, and searched for the slender crescent of new moon through the bare winter branches – but it was obscured by dark clouds. His spirit fell, for he could not recite the blessing without actually seeing the moon. The BeShT understood this as a bad omen. He grew sad as he thought about the impoverished condition of his neighbors, Jew and Gentile alike. He began to lament for all the suffering souls and his body shook with tears.
At that moment the door of his tiny shul swung open and the BeShT turned in the direction of the sound. The Hasidim saw the solitary figure of their rebbe. They assumed he had already sighted the slender crescent and rushed to join him, leaping and twirling like flames on a wick in anticipation of reciting the blessing. As they grasped the hands of their rebbe and brought him into the circle, the clouds that covered the sky parted and they all saw the slender crescent smiling above the horizon.
As a rabbi, I have learned that the joy of Jewish living rests in the heart of a community that raises the sparks together. I sought and accepted the opportunity to serve as your rabbi because of the nature of your community. I am looking forward to becoming part of a group dedicated to creating a warm and welcoming congregation, a group which values the many gifts that each person threads into the fabric of celebration, learning, and tikkun olum (repairing the world).
This fall, I cross the threshold of my 36th year of congregational life by celebrating the High Holy Days with you, and I am thrilled to initiate the next cycle of my life in the midst of the Danforth Jewish Circle.
I look forward to sharing my passion for Torah and Kabbalah, Jewish storytelling, Klezmer music and dance, Sephardic heritage, interfaith, multigenerational and multicultural peacemaking, Jewish ceremony and earth-based spirituality. I pray our time together enriches our lives, delights our children, and creates new vision to sustain us in the world.
L'shalom
Rabbi Lynn
If any of you have any specific questions you'd like to ask about Rabbi Lynn - please send us an e-mail at info@djctoronto.com.
For more information: info@djctoronto.com
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