Dear Temple Beth Shalom,
Hi! I’m Rabbi Daniel Reiser, and I am really excited to be joining your community this summer. Over the past several months, I have enjoyed meeting many TBS congregants, and I look forward to continuing to build relationships in the months and years that are to come. I also have really enjoyed getting to know Rabbi Schecter and Cantor Joseph, and am honored to be joining them as a clergy partner in this time of great transition for Temple Beth Shalom.
For the past six years, I have served as an associate rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple, in Scarsdale – and my wife, Leah, and I and our two kids have been living in White Plains. Our whole family is really excited to move to the Rivertowns area, and to become a part of the Temple Beth Shalom community.
This Friday and Saturday evening, Jews all over the world will gather around their dining room tables for seder. Sociologists say that the Passover seder is one of the most popular and widely observed customs in American Jewish life – and there’s a good reason why that’s the case. The seder is a combination of many of the best elements that Jewish life has to offer: we gather together with friends and family; our homes become a sacred space; we share a meal; we engage in good conversation; we ask questions; we tell stories – many of the elements that make Jewish life compelling and powerful, and cause seder night to be different from all other nights.
In the years that are to come, I look forward to sharing exactly these kinds of experiences with the Temple Beth Shalom community – not only around the seder table, but at all times of the year. I am excited to hear your stories, to explore together life’s big questions, to engage each other in meaningful conversation, to share in one another’s lives – and continue to build upon Temple Beth Shalom’s rich history as a community that is different from all other kinds of communities.
I am excited to do all of this and more together. I am looking forward to continuing to get to know one another soon – and until then, I wish you a chag sameach, a happy and a meaningful Passover. May it be different from all other nights.