On The Bookshelf
The Bimah And Beyond
Book shines new light on diversity in the rabbinate.
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
I t was 1962, and Marilyn Monroe had just
died.
So George Kalinsky did what he always did
when something important happened — he
visited a rabbi.
Kalinsky, now 60, recalls listening to a Shabbat
sermon about Monroe's impact on the world by the
rabbi of his Long Island, N.Y., congregation. The
rabbi described how Monroe had sought to become
more than just a sex symbol, marrying playwright
Arthur Miller and trying to grow intellectually.
"It was another insight on something that I got in
a synagogue," Kalinsky says.
Whether it was for insight on Marilyn Monroe,
his wife's cancer or the 9-11 terror attacks, Kalins
has turned for guidance and insight throughout his
life to the men and women of the rabbinate.
Now Kalinsky is hoping to shed some light on the
rabbis' world. He has collected 100 portraits of rab-
bis spanning the ideological spectrum in
Rabbis — The Many Faces of Judaism, an
unusual book to be published in
October by Rizzoli International.
"Especially after 9-11, I wanted to
show that there could be a unity of all
denominations," he says. "I wanted to
show the world what rabbis are like; I
felt this was my mitzvah."
Sermons And More
It's not the kind of project you'd expect
from someone like Kalinsky, the award-
winning official photographer for New
York's Madison Square Garden and spe-
cial photographer for the New York Mets
and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
On a recent day, Kalinsky sits in a
Manhattan office adorned with famous
images from the worlds of sports
and show business: a black-and-
white photo of Muhammad Ali
clowning at fellow boxer Joe
Frazier's training camp; singer
Frank Sinatra ringside; singer
Tony Bennett's portrait; and hock-
ey star Wayne Gretzky on the ice.
Kalinsky counts among his
friends celebrities such as film
director Spike Lee, NBA coach
Phil Jackson and NBC News
anchor Tom Brokaw, but he also
has come to know many rabbis
over the years. They range from
Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel
Ashkenazi, the chief rabbi of Kfar
9/ 6
2002
132
Chabad, Israel, to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who
leads the gay and lesbian Congregation Beth
Simchat Torah in New York.
Each of the 100 rabbis in the book also con-
tributed an essay, edited by Michael Kress, and actor
Kirk Douglas and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-
Conn.) penned introductory pieces,
One of the participants, Rabbi Marc Schneier,
who leads the Hampton Synagogue in
Westhampton Beach, N.Y., says the book "shines a
new light on the diversity of the rabbinate and how
the rabbinate has changed."
Contrary to popular belief, many rabbis do not
only preach from the bimah, says Schneier, who also
is president of the North American Boards of Rabbis.
Increasingly, he says, "fewer rabbis are preparing
classic sermons and more are preparing to lead dis-
cussions about a Torah portion either from the pul-
pit or in a classroom."
On a larger stage, the role of the rabbi is changing
as rabbis. teach Jewish studies in universities, lead
Jewish lay organizations or become chaplains.
Rabbis At Ground Zero
Among those Kalinsky portrays is Rabbi Jacob
Goldstein of the Lubavitch movement. He also is
known as Col. Goldstein, Jewish chaplain for the
New York National Guard.
Goldstein drove a tank during the Gulf War and
last Passover led a seder aboard the John E Kennedy
aircraft carrier for U.S. troops in Operation
Enduring Freedom.
Goldstein and Kalinsky were set to meet Sept. 12
at the National Guard armory on Staten Island to
stage a shot for the book.
But at noon on Sept. 11, Kalinsky got a call from
Goldstein, who was coughing into his cell phone at
Ground Zero. Kalinsky arrived at -the scene and cap-
tured one of the most dramatic images in the book:
a wild-eyed Goldstein in combat gear in front of the
smoking ruins of the World Trade Center.
As dust from the site clogged the rabbi's throat,
Kalinsky suggested he leave. But Kalinsky says
Goldstein told him he was on an important mission.
Goldstein spent the next five months at Ground
Zero ministering to army personnel who aided the
recovery effort.
It wasn't the first time the events of 9-11 changed
the path of this book. Kalinsky met Rabbi Joseph
Potasnik of New York's Congregation Mount Sinai,
chaplain to the New York Fire Department, outside
the 31st Street firehouse in the weeks after the attack.
It was the same firehouse where Father Mychal
Clockwise from top left:
Rabbi Marc Schneier,
founder of the
Hampton Synagogue
in Westhampton Beach,
NY, is president of the
Foundation for Ethnic
Understanding; he met
secretly with Louis
Farrakhan recently in an
e ort to reconcile Jews
with the Nation of
Islam.
Rabbi Yosef Hadana,
chief rabbi, Ethiopian
Jews, immigrated to
Israel and became the
first Ethiopian to be
ordained as a rabbi.
Rabbi Angela Warnick
Buchdahl, assistant
rabbi and cantor at
Westchester Reform
Temple, Scarsdale, NY,
is the first Asian-
American woman to be
invested as cantor or
ordained as rabbi from
Hebrew Union College.
Rabbi Nachum Shifren,
author of "Surfing
Rabbi: A Kabbalistic
Quest for thf )ill "