????-??-????-???? JUNE?JULY?AUGUST Summer - Park Avenue ...

Paul Corwin, Vice-President of Programming
Reflections with the Rabbi
“Take part in shaping our PAS community.”
All year long, our synagogue offers
myriad opportunities for members of
all ages: adult classes, social gettogethers,
holiday celebrations, social
action projects, Israel trips, lifecycle celebrations,
High School classes, museum visits, lectures, and
more. The PAS calendar is crowded with cycles
of Shabbat and holiday observances, punctuated
by special, one-time events. It can seem an
overwhelming challenge to balance professional
obligations, synagogue events and family
commitments.
Summer is an opportunity to change our pace, to slow down
and reflect. This summer, I invite you to consider what we have
accomplished as a community and to think about our communal
priorities. Rabbi Cosgrove will host two evenings of “Reflections
with the Rabbi,” where we will focus on what our community
is doing and what kind of community we want to be. At each
session, Rabbi Cosgrove will introduce the evening’s topic with
one of his sermons (all online at www.pasyn.org). Together
we will examine the issue and look at the Rabbi’s proposed
suggestions, engaging in dialogue with him, and sharing ideas
with fellow congregants.
There are many possible outcomes for these evenings. We
Rabbi Neil Zuckerman is committed
to Jewish education for people of
all ages, all interests, and all levels
of Jewish knowledge. As Rabbi of
Temple Israel Center in White Plains, where he
served from 1999-2009, he developed programs
for Youth and Families, taught in the Religious
School, the Community Hebrew High School,
and the congregation’s Adult Education program.
He was instrumental in bringing the Florence
Melton Adult Mini-School to Westchester County
and served on the Melton faculty, teaching the first-year Purposes
course and the second-year Dramas course. At Congregation Har
Shalom in Potomac, Maryland, where Neil has served as Senior
Rabbi for the past year, he continued his active involvement in all
facets of education in the synagogue. In addition, Neil has served
as president of the Westchester County Board of Rabbis and has
chaired the Israel Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly.
A lifelong learner himself, Neil is currently a rabbinic fellow
4 Park Avenue Synagogue Bulletin
PAS
Summer
577
Programs
אבה ךורב
Rabbi Neil Zuckerman, Director of Congregational Education
want everyone who is a part of our synagogue
community to help to define the kind of
community we want to be, and to share ideas on
how we can become that community. We want to
look at our accomplishments and ask how we can
be even better. There is much to discuss about
our synagogue’s priorities and about how we
deal with issues that confront the Jewish world.
Among all the topics that we might consider, we
have chosen to begin with our relationship to
Israel and our commitment to providing multiple
paths for spiritual engagement. Can we engage
more effectively with Israel and Israelis? Beyond sanctuary
services, the Havurah, daily minyanim, musical Kabbalat Shabbat
services and Iyyun Tefillah, are there ways to create additional
points of entry for spiritual seekers while maintaining a cohesive
worship community?
Turn to page 10 of this Bulletin & Summer Program Calendar
to see the full variety of programs happening at PAS this summer.
I hope you will come to the synagogue frequently to sing, study,
worship, view movies, and grow friendships with other PAS
members. And do join Rabbi Cosgrove for Reflections with the
Rabbi on Tuesday, June 8 and Tuesday, July 27. Take part in
shaping our PAS community.
at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem in
the Center for Rabbinic Enrichment (CRE), an
exceptional opportunity to learn with colleagues
and build relationships across the religious
movements. CRE is a three-year program of
study for rabbis of all denominations from North
America, involving weekly classes via videoconference
and bi-annual study seminars in Israel.
In July, Neil will travel to Jerusalem for ten days
for his final CRE summer seminar and “graduation”
from this prestigious program.
Neil was raised in Harrisburg, PA, and began his Jewish education
at the Conservative synagogue there, Beth El. He earned
his B.A. from the University of Maryland in English. He attended
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), where he
earned a Masters degree in Jewish Studies and was ordained a
rabbi in 1999.
Neil looks forward to introducing his wonderful family to the
to the PAS community.