Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman grew up on Manhattan’s upper west side and had a father who was a Conservative rabbi; but he discovered his calling in Madison.
And he hopes to reacquaint himself with Wisconsin next month, when he is scheduled to lead a “Community-Wide Slichot Weekend,” Sept. 11-13, to help Milwaukee Jewry prepare spiritually for the coming High Holidays.
Indeed, he said on Aug. 13 in a telephone interview from Jerusalem, where he is the spiritual leader of Congregation Kol Haneshama (Voice of the Soul), he is looking forward to reencountering “all the things I miss about Wisconsin: cheese, beer, and a lake.”
But he will bring more than just his nostalgia to town. His shul belongs to the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, as the Reform movement is known there.
That means that “my synagogue is on the front lines of the fight for religious pluralism” in Israel. “Doing that in Jerusalem is no simple thing,” he said.
Moreover, “meditation and music in prayer” are topics that are “very important to me,” he said; and he speaks frequently about those topics and other aspects of Jewish spirituality in Israel and elsewhere, according to a release.
He plans to discuss all those subjects during his stay here. At the “Slichot Dinner, Study and Services” scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, 8:15 p.m., at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, he will speak on “Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav: Music, Meditation, and Teshuvah.”
On Sunday morning, he will speak at Congregation Shalom on “Raising a Spiritual Child.” Later that day he will discuss “Ethical and Spiritual Challenges and Opportunities of Living in Israel” at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
He will also lead services and study on Friday, Sept. 11, at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, hosted by that shul and Congregation Shir Hadash; and on Saturday morning at Congregation Beth Israel.
As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1970s, he lived in Kibbutz Langdon, the Jewish cooperative house on Langdon St.
“I was leading services there,” Weiman-Kelman said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem on Aug. 13. “Also I was teaching in an informal way. I enjoyed doing it, and I was doing pretty well at it.”
He also received encouragement in that direction from friends and the director of the university Hillel Foundation. Finally, “I remember thinking that just because [becoming a rabbi] would make my parents happy, that was no reason not to.”
After obtaining his undergraduate degree, he went to the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was ordained in 1979. He then decided to spend a year in Israel before returning to the U.S. to become a congregational rabbi.
But “I discovered that I felt at home in Israel,” he said. “I feel like I am still on a one-year program, a year that turned into a lifetime.”
In 1985, he founded Kol Haneshama, which now has 360 member families. He is also a founder of Rabbis for Human Rights.
“Issues of ethics and morality and Zionism are of daily concern to me,” he said. “Anybody who lives here knows that we live in a constant tension between security needs, which are real, and our desire to have a moral and just society.”
Weiman-Kelman believes that non-Orthodox expressions of Judaism are having effects on Israeli culture, “even if it does not necessarily translate to movement affiliation.” For one, there has been “an explosion of unaffiliated congregations,” he said.
For another, he said that he hears “much less” what had been the common secular Israeli attitude: “The synagogue I don’t go to is Orthodox.”
He said the reasons for this are both the presence of the movements in Israel, but also that “more Israelis have spent time abroad and are exposed to the variety of Jewish expressions.… Learning that there are other ways of being Jewish has a huge impact.”
All the coming Slichot Weekend events are free except the Sept. 12 dinner, which is $15 per person. To register, contact Emanu-El, 414-228-7545.
The project is co-sponsored by 12 synagogues and other community organizations, and is made possible with the support of the Milwaukee Jewish Community Foundation, the endowment development program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
For more information, contact the participating institutions or Jody Hirsh, JCC Jewish education director, 414-967-8199.
Formerly op-ed editor, Leon Cohen has written for The Chronicle for more than 25 years.
IF YOU GO:
Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Kabbalat Shabbat services
Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue
Saturday, Sept. 12
Shabbat morning services and Kiddush lunch
Congregation Beth Israel
8:15 p.m.
Slichot Dinner, Study and Services
Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun
Dinner cost: $15
RSVP: 414-228-7545
Sunday, Sept. 13
10:30 a.m.
Study session — “Raising a Spiritual Child”
Congregation Shalom
2 p.m.
Study session — “Ethical and Spiritual Challenges and Opportunities of Living in Israel”
Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC
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