Rabbi Murray Ezring doesn’t hold a grudge. But he does get even.
Thirty-one years after he was a candidate to be the rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, he is returning to Beth El to serve as an interim replacement for Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz, the man who succeeded Rabbi Arthur Ruberg, the man who got the job in 1988.
“I’ve hounded (then president) Stuart Held ever since,” Rabbi Ezring, 68, quipped during a meet-and-greet with Beth El board members and trustees earlier this spring.
But seriously, folks, things never quite got that far. Rabbi Ezring, who had just completed ten years at his first full-time pulpit in Ocean Township, NJ, said he received an offer from Boca Raton, FL, before Beth El was ready to make an offer.
He served six years in Boca, where his parents lived, before deciding to take a job outside the rabbinate.”When I went to sign the contract on my new job, my hand was shaking. I realized it was a sign that I should give it another try.”
Enter Temple Israel in Charlotte, NC. Now, twenty-five years later, Temple Israel celebrated his retirement on Memorial Day weekend.
“It was so much more than we were prepared for,” Rabbi Ezring said of the Shabbat weekend. “It was unbelievable; we had over 300 in attendance on Friday night and more than 500 Saturday. It was all lay-led, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens.”
Rabbi Ezring, accompanied by his wife Barbara, will begin his duties at Beth El in mid-July. Though renting a place in Ghent, they will be maintaining a home in Charlotte where they have two elderly parents in a nursing home. “I’ll be going back and forth a lot,” Barbara said.
So why retire from his full-time gig?
“I’ve served a couple of stints on the (USCJ) placement commission. It’s getting harder and harder to find rabbinical students who want a pulpit because it seems to be getting more difficult to work with lay leadership.”
After forty-three years on the pulpit, Rabbi Ezring thought he could help bridge that gap. He calls the interim position “a healing rabbi.”
“It’s helping a congregation heal from political trauma or the sudden, unexpected loss of a rabbi. … Above all, I’m a pastor, so I thought it would be nice to pastor a congregation instead of individuals, although that’s still part of the job.”
Rabbi Ezring has already started down the introductory healing path at Beth El by meeting with board members and staff. When he gets to Norfolk in mid-July, he will be expanding the path to members of the congregation in a series of meetings.
“Just like a family situation, synagogues are all different, so I have to learn a little about the congregation before I can decide about how to handle Beth El. But I won’t be working in a vacuum; I will be working closely with the board and with families.”
Rabbi Ezring says his career has been influenced on two levels: one by his over thirty-year friendship with Dr. Ron Wolfson, the “guru of relational Judaism.” At Ezring’s retirement Shabbat, Wolfson spoke to the Charlotte congregation, reminding folks what it means to be engaging.
“You must welcome everyone into the sanctuary; leave your seats to welcome the newcomer,” Rabbi Ezring said of the message.
On a second level, Rabbi Ezring said he has always been involved in civil rights, immigration and poverty because “welcoming the stranger is such an important concept in Judaism.”
As for his rabbinic style, Ezring said he spends little time on the bimah.
“I like to walk the aisles. I want people to feel engaged with me physically and orally.”
As an interim rabbi, Ezring said he is charged with getting the congregation in the right frame of mind to hire a full-time replacement. He has gone through extensive training for the position and is actually not allowed to take the job.
“If I do my job well, then Beth El will be positioned to hire a good rabbi who wants to move in the same direction that the congregation wants to move.”
It’s a careful dance – deciding to address such subjects as instrumental music, longer/shorter services, more or less tradition, lay or staff davening, and interfaith participation.
“I’m not going to tell you where to go. These are all important questions for a congregation to decide.”
And what about his future?
“Maybe I’ll decide to be a congregation president,” he said with a laugh.
Back at ya, Stuart Held.
Getting to Know You…
RABBI MURRAY EZRING
Started at Beth El: July 15, 2019
New home: Apartment near Cafe Stella in Ghent
Hometown: Rock Island, Ill.
Age: 68
Marital status: Married to Barbara for 46 years
Four children: Aviva Ezring, Tamar Rotchstein (Adam), Ron Ezring, and Hazzan Gil Ezring.
Two grandsons: Addison and Coby.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in history and social studies from the University of Illinois; Master’s and Ordination from Jewish Theological Seminary
Hobbies: I am an amateur magician. I love movies and I’m trying (without much success) to teach myself to play guitar. I also love HO scale model railroading.
“Family business”: Both of my brothers are rabbis. My father had Smicha but worked as a cantor until he retired when he began to serve as a rabbi in nursing homes. There are over a dozen rabbis in my generation of my family.
Celebrity twin: I have often been mistaken for Dom DeLouise and a couple of lesser known country singers.
Favorite movie: My favorite movie is the next one I will see, especially if it is from the Marvel family of movies.
Favorite song: As an optimist, my favorite song is Judy Garland singing “Over The Rainbow.” A close second and third are: Liza singing “Ring Dem Bells” or “To Dream the Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha.”
Favorite sermon subject: Human beings are created in the image of God, are equal in the eyes of God, and enjoy the wonderful gifts of life and free will.