The Installation of
Rabbi Suzie Jacobson By Rabbi Ronne Friedman
We were delighted to welcome
our newest Rabbi and Director of Religious Education, Suzie Jacobson, and to celebrate her Installation at our Qabbalat Shabbat Service on October 30. We are thrilled that Rabbi Jacobson and her wife, JoJo, elected to choose our Temple Israel family and Boston and thereby to continue the wonderful relationship that they have built with our community during Rabbi Jacobson’s six years of study at Boston Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School. Rabbi Sharon Anisfeld, Dean, and Rabbi Daniel Judson, Director of Professional Development and Placement, at Boston Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School, two of Rabbi Jacobson’s many beloved mentors, offered a beautiful d’var torah and blessing in Rabbi Jacobson’s honor, followed by a blessing shared by our clergy and congregation. Our RYFTI teens provided a musical tribute to their new rabbi, who is already a beloved figure in their lives.
Rabbi Jacobson brings to us extensive experience and rich higher educational achievement, having received a B.A. in History from Columbia University, a second B.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, List College, an A.M. in Religious Studies (with a concentration in Jewish Thought) from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and this past May, Rabbinic Ordination and a Master’s of Jewish Education from Hebrew College Rabbinical School. Rabbi Jacobson also was awarded a Certificate in Organizational Leadership from the Boston University Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership. Parashat Hashavuah, the Torah portion assigned for reading on that Shabbat, is entitled Vayera. It begins with an iconic story which sets, forever after, Jewish cultural and spiritual value known as Qabbalat Panim, the imperative to offer a welcome greeting as an invitation to enter into meaningful relationship. Abraham
and Sarah’s generous reception of three mysterious travelers who pass by their tent is a model of what has become identified as the mitzvah of Jewish hospitality. After Abraham and Sarah offer comfort to these guests, they discover that before departing, the guests provide them with blessing. Rabbi Jacobson has already provided blessing and learning to all of the children and adults that she has taught for the past six years in her various teaching, social justice, and internship roles at Temple Israel. The love and admiration with which her students speak of her is a clear harbinger of the gifts that Rabbi Jacobson will continue to bring to us. Those feelings were palpable and profound as she was installed in her new role. We know that we can continue to anticipate the power of her generous and enthusiastic spirit, her intellectual insight, and her creative energy to return blessing to our entire congregation, as well as to the larger Jewish and civic communities of which we are a part. My clergy colleagues, Rabbis Zecher, Soffer, Morrison, and Mehlman and Cantor Einhorn encourage our members to seek out opportunities to meet Rabbi Jacobson during the coming weeks and months in order to extend our welcome and in order to receive the joy of relationship with her.
www.tisrael.org/insight | 617-566-3960
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