Local synagogue contracts for part-time rabbi
That Bozeman is the next place the Lubavitch Chasidim want to place a full-time rabbi isn't the only Jewish news in town.
Bozeman's Temple Beth Shalom has just contracted with a retired Reform rabbi in Whitefish to spend 10 days a month in Bozeman, said Stan Rosenberg of Belgrade, Beth Shalom's rabbinical aide.
Rabbi Allen Secher "has an apartment in town and will be here for 10 days a month, including a weekend, and Holy Days," Rosenberg said.
Some 60 families belong to the new Temple Beth Shalom, which is aligned with Reform Judaism. The community just held an August day camp, with rabbis from Israel; has a dozen children in its Hebrew School; and convinced the city to dedicate space for a consecrated Jewish section in Sunset Hills Cemetery.
Beth Shalom had its own rabbi for about a year, but she recently moved back East, Rosenberg said.
This is historically a problem for Montana's sparse Jewish population -- getting and keeping rabbis. Currently, no Jewish congregation in Montana has a full-time rabbi, Rosenberg said. Missoula, Great Falls, Butte and Billings all fly in student rabbis for Holy Days.
Helena's Temple Emanu-El, started in the 1890s, only managed to keep a rabbi for about 15 years. By the 1930s the congregation finally gave up, dissolved and donated the building to the state.
At the same time, Butte had two synagogues, one Reform, one Orthodox. Only the Reform synagogue is still in use, and just celebrated its 100th anniversary.
For about 40 years, Billings Rabbi Hurwitz at Congregation Beth Aaron was Montana's only full-time rabbi.
"He came after World War II, liked the town and stayed, and they like him," Rosenberg said.
Hurwitz died in the 1990s, and Billings has had no luck replacing him, having gone through two rabbis who stayed for a couple years each.
That Bozeman is the next place the Lubavitch Chasidim want to place a full-time rabbi isn't the only Jewish news in town.
Bozeman's Temple Beth Shalom has just contracted with a retired Reform rabbi in Whitefish to spend 10 days a month in Bozeman, said Stan Rosenberg of Belgrade, Beth Shalom's rabbinical aide.
Rabbi Allen Secher "has an apartment in town and will be here for 10 days a month, including a weekend, and Holy Days," Rosenberg said.
Some 60 families belong to the new Temple Beth Shalom, which is aligned with Reform Judaism. The community just held an August day camp, with rabbis from Israel; has a dozen children in its Hebrew School; and convinced the city to dedicate space for a consecrated Jewish section in Sunset Hills Cemetery.
Beth Shalom had its own rabbi for about a year, but she recently moved back East, Rosenberg said.
This is historically a problem for Montana's sparse Jewish population -- getting and keeping rabbis. Currently, no Jewish congregation in Montana has a full-time rabbi, Rosenberg said. Missoula, Great Falls, Butte and Billings all fly in student rabbis for Holy Days.
Helena's Temple Emanu-El, started in the 1890s, only managed to keep a rabbi for about 15 years. By the 1930s the congregation finally gave up, dissolved and donated the building to the state.
At the same time, Butte had two synagogues, one Reform, one Orthodox. Only the Reform synagogue is still in use, and just celebrated its 100th anniversary.
For about 40 years, Billings Rabbi Hurwitz at Congregation Beth Aaron was Montana's only full-time rabbi.
"He came after World War II, liked the town and stayed, and they like him," Rosenberg said.
Hurwitz died in the 1990s, and Billings has had no luck replacing him, having gone through two rabbis who stayed for a couple years each.
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