Madison — Most of the time, a new rabbi starts out as a stranger to the synagogue and community he or she comes to.
That is not the case, however, with Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman and Congregation Shaarei Shamayim-Madison Reconstructionist and Renewal Community. For her, becoming on Aug. 1 the half-time spiritual leader there was almost like returning home.
She had taught Hebrew there as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin and had served as student rabbi there while attending the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. That she had a track record appears to be one of the reasons the congregation chose her.
“We had known Laurie before, so when she applied we were excited,” synagogue president Celeste Robins said in a telephone interview. Even as a student rabbi, according to Robins, Zimmerman had displayed qualities that congregants in this small (80 households) synagogue found valuable.
“One of her unique qualities is that she’s open and welcoming,” said Robins. “It’s fine if you have a different perspective than hers. She doesn’t get defensive, she’s open to other ways of looking at things. She’s very graceful in incorporating new ideas.”
And this is important at Shaarei Shamayim, according to Maria Cancian, a UW professor of public affairs and social work and a member of the congregation’s search committee.
“One of the strengths and one of the challenges [of Shaarei Shamayim] is that we are a very diverse group [with] diverse and strong opinions,” Cancian said. “So we look to our rabbi to support us in our learning and exploration and to be able to help many different people who are exploring aspects of Judaism in different ways.”
Therefore, “I think Rabbi Laurie brings with her an openness, an enthusiasm and a kind of flexibility that are really a great match for us,” said Cancian.
Normal idea
Zimmerman, 29, grew up in Cincinnati, where the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement’s rabbinical school, is headquartered.
“All of my Hebrew teachers, camp counselors, youth group advisors were rabbinical students,” Zimmerman said in a telephone interview. “So the idea was always quite normal to me to become a rabbi.”
Of course, most of her classmates and campmates did not go on to become rabbis. Zimmerman, however, “loved Jewish culture and the Judaism I grew up with. I knew I wanted that to be a big part of my life.”
She went to UW, took “a lot of Jewish studies” and spent her junior year at the University of Haifa, all with the thought of becoming an historian.
But as she became more deeply involved with Jewish history and ideas, “I really missed working with people,” she said. “What I was connected to was everything rabbis do. I wanted to teach, do counseling, plan programs, work with a community,
officiate at lifecycle events.”
Moreover, working for Shaarei Shamayim as a Hebrew teacher during her college years introduced her to the Reconstructionist movement. Zimmerman so liked what she saw that she decided to go to that movement’s school.
“I think it was its focus on community” and on “working out issues in a democratic and participatory way,” she said. “That’s not to say Reform doesn’t do that, but it is a matter of where the emphasis is.”
Indeed, one of her goals is to work to “strengthen how the community functions,” Zimmerman said. “One of the hard things about being grassroots is that things fall through the cracks.”
She wants to ensure that the synagogue’s committees will run smoothly, and that there are enough people to lead services and Torah study when she is not there.
Zimmerman’s contract is for two years. While her position is designated half-time, she actually will be working full-time hours for half the number of weeks per year. At least four times during the year, she will travel to London to be with her partner, Renée Bauer, a rabbinical student at the Leo Baeck College there.
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