KENOSHA – Rabbi Hannah Wallick is back to serving a congregation – the work she loves most.
Wallick is the new spiritual leader for Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, having started Aug. 1, after a career so far spanning different facets of Jewish leadership.
Beth Hillel Temple seems just right for a rabbi who wants to connect and work with people, like Wallick. She describes the shul as both welcoming and inclusive. “This is a very volunteer-run synagogue,” said a smiling Wallick, after just having sent out a “big email” with openness to ideas.
“I think they’re very thoughtful in how they execute synagogue life,” she said. “This is a great community. It’s really warm and welcoming – towards one another. They’ve also been warm and welcoming to me.”
Wallick appears to have landed in a spot that’s made for her, after 15 years as a rabbi that has, to date, offered her tastes of different slices of Jewish life. She started out as a Conservative rabbi, then switched to Reform. Her most recent role was as the Camp Young Judaea Midwest camp director, but she has also previously served congregations, including Moses Montefiore Congregation in Appleton for more than five years, and as vice president for outreach and leadership at Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Now, in Kenosha, Wallick serves in a historic, grand old building overlooking Downtown Kenosha’s leafy Library Park, about an hour’s drive north of the Jewish-heavy Chicago North Shore. Though Kenosha’s population growth has held steady in recent years, it’s often seen as a spot for long-term growth, in an area that attracts people with ties to both Chicago and Milwaukee.
Wallick said her rabbinate is about making sure there are multiple entry points into Jewish life. “I think providing those multiple entry points means that more people can walk through the door,” she said. The synagogue serves more than 100 family units.
She said she loves the vibe: “Wherever you come from in life, whatever your background, religious life experience, socio-economic, family configuration, you are welcome here – sexual orientation, gender identity, you are welcome here,” Wallick said.
It matches her values: “I officiate multi-faith weddings because I affirm people’s choices to bring religion into their family in an infinite amount of ways.”
Life and career don’t have to be a linear path, on a ladder, she said. She sees a path like hers as an opportunity to “learn different things about yourself and the world and what you’re good at, and the way that you can give back.”
“This is really just the sum total of everything I have learned about what I love to do and what I’m good at,” she said.
Wallick steps into the role following a period of transition at Beth Hillel Temple: Rabbi Dena Feingold retired in June 2024 after 39 years as spiritual leader, and Rabbi Bonnie Margulis then served as interim rabbi for about a year.
Wallick said: “I hope I get to stay here for a long time.”
Naomi Sedwick and Kate Alter contributed to this story.
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