Spirituality
Shaarey Zedek's dynamic new
rabbi brings a host of talents.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
R
abbi Jonathan Berkun's first
memory of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek involves an
area outside the building.
"I can remember, as a teen-ager,
tossing around a football in the park-
ing lot during a convention," he says,
recalling his participation in a Central
Region United Synagogue Your.' zon-
ference as its Religion/Education vice
president.
Still involved in religious education,
the rabbi has been invited inside —
and onto the bimah.
In July, he'll become the newest
member of the clergy for the 2,100-
member synagogue.
Rabbis Run In The Family
Born in New Haven, Conn., he is the
son of another Rabbi Berkun. His
father, Rabbi Alvin K. Berkun, serves
at the Tree of Life Congregation in
Pittsburgh, where the younger rabbi
was junior congregation leader as a
youth.
Growing up in an observant
Conservative home, he attended
Hebrew day schools until sixth grade.
During his years at public middle and
high schools he also attended rel ;ions
school classes weeknights and Sundays.
He was an active United Synagogue
Youth member, visiting Poland and
Israel on a USY program, and later
joining the organization's staff.
Rabbi Berkun majored in philoso-
phy at Columbia College of Columbia
University in New York. During col-
lege, he taught Hebrew school classes,
led junior services at New York's
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, and pri-
vately tutored students in Judaic stud-
ies and in preparation for their b'nai
mitzvah.
He was a camper and water-ski
director at Camp Ramah in Canada.
"There, I reunited with many
Detroiters, including many Shaarey
Zedek members," he says. "Who
knows, there are probably several kids
at Shaarey Zedek I have taught how to
water ski," says the rabbi, who also
plays basketball and is a sushi cook.
While the men in his family are rab-
bis, he says, "All the women are attor-
neys." His mother, Flora Berkun, is
now retired, while his sister Elizabeth
Friedman is a lawyer in New Jersey
and his other sister Rebecca Berkun is
a law student at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Rabbinical School
Breaking the family tradition, Rabbi
Berkun's wife, Lauren Eichler Berkun,
is a rabbi. She received her rabbinic
ordination alongside her husband from
the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America in New York last month.
A summa cum laude and Phi Beta
Kappa graduate of Princeton
University in New Jersey, she was
introduced to her future husband dur-
ing their first year of rabbinical school.
"We met at a reception for new stu-
dents at the home of Rabbi William
H. Lebeau, vice chancellor for
Rabbinic Development at JTS, who
then was dean of the rabbinical
school," Rabbi Jonathan Berkun says.
When the two were married in Sept.
2000 in Washington, D.C., Rabbi
Jonathan Berkun's father officiated at
the ceremony, and Rabbi Lebeau
served as one of the witnesses who
signed the ketubah (marriage contract).
Developing a special relationship with
the Berkuns, Rabbi Lebeau sees them
Rabbis Lauren and Jonathan Berkun at the Shaarey Zedek building in Southfield.
as "a beautiful couple devoted to each
other and devoted to God and the
Jewish people.
"They both have a passion about
teaching Torah so that others might be
brought into a deeper understanding
of the Jewish tradition that each of
them have found in their own minds."
Rabbi Lebeau sees it as "a great
blessing to Shaarey Zedek and to the
larger Jewish community of Detroit
for such committed and passionate
rabbis to come to the community."
joining The Rabbinic Team
Rabbi Berkun says he was very
impressed with the vision displayed by
the rabbinic team at Shaarey Zedek.
Rabbis Irwin Groner, Leonardo Bitran
and Joseph Krakoff were major influ-
ences in his decision to come to
Detroit.
"The prospect of working closely
with them, learning from their wis-
dom, and building a rabbinic team of
colleagues who trust and respect one
another is one of the most exciting
parts of my new position."
As a congregational rabbi, he hopes
to become involved in all aspects of
synagogue life.
"Rabbi Berkun will join us in play-
ing a role in doing everything the rest
of us do in terms of baby-namings, bar
and bat mitzvahs, weddings, funerals,
teaching and hospital visits," says
Rabbi Krakoff.
And Rabbi Berkun comes prepared
for this involvement. During an April
visit, he became acquainted with the
current b'nai mitzvah class. He looks
forward to teaching adults and chil-
dren.
"I plan to have a strong presence and
be an approachable resource for formal
and informal educational programs,"
he says. "I look forward to bringing
my passion for Jewish texts and learn-
ing to the classrooms of Shaarey Zedek
and to the greater Detroit learning
community."
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