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 "