Cantor Kate Judd was advised out of the gate about the sentiment around faith in Green Bay.
Judd had applied for the role of spiritual leader at Congregation Cnesses Israel, an unaffiliated synagogue. From the first virtual interview for the job, she was told the Green Bay Packers are the primary religion in town.
“Everything else comes after the Packers, and I was told, ‘You need to get a calendar, and don’t schedule anything when there’s a Packer game – even if it’s an away game, forget it,’” Judd said.
Judd started in her role July 1. So far, she said, the conflicts are minimal, given that Wisconsin’s NFL team doesn’t tend to play games on Friday nights or Saturday mornings.
Judd joined the congregation after spending a year as an interim spiritual leader at B’nai Torah MetroWest in Wayland, Massachusetts, continuing what Judd refers to as her third career.
Raised in an atheist home, Judd has worked both as an opera singer and as a voice teacher and had been looking for a spiritual path.
Her career change came after a visit to Israel, which led her to start reading about Judaism. She signed up for a class with a Reconstructionist rabbi, and the rabbi invited her to sing the Kol Nidre at High Holiday services.
“I went and did it, and something happened to me,” Judd said. “I felt connected. It was like the music and the spiritual, and it all lined up all in one place. And I felt like I was not performing, I was channeling or transmitting something from the universe to the congregation.”
Judd was ordained in 2016 by Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. By then, she already had started her third career.
From 2012 to 2021, Judd served as the spiritual leader for the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community in Vermont. That period included a sabbatical during which Judd said she went to Israel following the death of her first husband.
After she returned, Judd said she was diagnosed with breast cancer and eventually decided to step down.
She returned to working with the interim position in Massachusetts. Judd said she knew when that role ended that if she was going to move to take a job, she wanted to try out a new environment.
The role at Congregation Cnesses Israel checked the right boxes.
Green Bay is most certainly a different environment than Vermont or the Boston area. In addition, the position is part-time, which Judd said gives her breathing room to explore other interests.
Judd described her job as “sole spiritual leader, chief cook and bottle washer.” Her duties range from leading services to pastoral work to hosting office hours to writing a monthly newsletter column as she guides the small congregation, which serves about 40 families.
One of her goals is to make Congregation Cnesses Israel more visible. She’d like to improve its website, which might help the synagogue attract more members, including from younger generations.
Outside of work, Judd said she is enjoying life near the bay and Lake Michigan as she establishes herself in what she described as “the warmest community I’ve ever worked for.”
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