Focus The Match Game Match- Maki The hunt for a new rabbi is long and ardous for both parties. If CC 44LI. PArPtAtt, ;17 441 Rabbi Judah Dardik, right, leads a Cali rnia congregation. He interviewed with seven syangogues. Hiring Rules For Conservative and Reform, strict rules govern the hiring of rabbis. JOE BERKOFSKY Jewish Telegraphic Agency New York W hen it comes to hiring rabbis, the Conservative and Reform movements are pretty religious. The movements employ stricter rules of engagement than do either modern Orthodoxy or the Reconstructionist movement. At the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary, a joint rabbinical placement commission of JTS and the Rabbinical Assembly — the 9/26 2003 104 movement's professional association of rabbis — oversees hiring rules. New graduates are allowed to step into a solo pulpit only in a congregation of up to 250 families. They are encour- aged instead to become assistant or asso- ciate rabbis, usually in larger synagogues with bigger staffs. The rules are designed in part to encourage rookie Conservative rabbis to gain experience and seasoning before jumping into a solo pulpit. After three years, the new rabbis can move up to a 500-family congregation; after seven years they can lead a synagogue with up to 750 families; and after a decade a rabbi can step into a major pulpit in JOE BERKOFSKY Jewish Telegraphic Agency New York rian Schuldenfrei was wander- ing around midtown anhattan one gray March day, clutching his cellphone, when the realization struck. The 28-year-old rabbinic student had recently emerged from the grueling "interview week" at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where Conservative synagogues meet pulpit candidates for the first time in a kind of rabbinical job fair capping the five-year program. He realized that he was so wrapped up in the job search that he'd forgotten to attend an important theolo- gy lecture. Now Schuldenfrei was nervously awaiting call-backs. The call he particu- larly wanted was from the 1,600-family Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, one of the Conservative movement's most presti- gious congregations, where an assistant rabbi position was available. "I wouldn't put my phone in my pocket becauk I was afraid I would miss that call," Schuldenfrei says. "I've never experienced more stress." Like other professionals, rabbis must endure the rigors of job hunting — competing for jobs, campaigning to con- vince prospective employers to hire them synagogues with more than 750 fami- lies. Yet some say that it's not congregation size or length of tenure that determines how hard a rabbi works. "I worked as hard when I had a congregation of 60 families as when I had 1,250 families," says Rabbi William Lebeau, dean of JTS' rabbinical school. "But I learned over the years how to balance time bet- ter, to be an administrator and pastor, and to protect my own family life." At JTS, congregational representatives gather for an "interview week" each spring to meet prospective rabbis, then select the ones they want to meet again. Interested students decide whether to meet congregations who call. Many newly ordained JTS rabbis say they interview with six congregations or more in person, and speak by phone with others, before fielding offers. While Conservative rabbinical job- hunting may seem rigid and intense, the rules evolved by the late 1980s in response to criticism that the process relied too much on insider ties, back- and haggling over contract terms. While each religious denomination follows its own set of rules and traditions that shape the rabbinic placement process, the goal is the same across the religious spectrum. "It's really about making the best match," says Rabbi Joel Alpert, place- ment director for the Reconstructionist movement. While some of the movements almost have turned the process into a science, the crucial ingredient is the chemistry between rabbi and congregation. "Like falling in love, the subjective is the most important factor in the end," says Rabbi William Lebeau, dean of the rabbinical school at JTS. After what seemed to Schuldenfrei an eternity, Sinai Temple's senior rabbi, David Wolpe, a rising leader in the movement, invited him for an interview. Schuldenfrei hopped on a flight to Los Angeles, arriving in time to attend Friday night services, eat dinner with Rabbi Wolpe and congregation lay lead- ers and polish up a Shabbat sermon. The next day, he delivered the sermon to 1,000 congregants, led a luncheon class for about 100 people, including board members, then spent the after- noon with the synagogue president, Rabbi Wolpe and Sinai Temple's other assistant rabbi, Sherre Hirsch. On Sunday, Schuldenfrei returned to the synagogue for still more meetings. room deals and RA discretion. Rabbi Hayim Herring, executive director of Star — an acronym for Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal — was ordained in 1984 and took his first assistantship at Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis in 1985. "The placement system was really dif- ferent back then," Rabbi Herring says. "There was more of an informal, old- boys network." Med School Model The Reform movement, meanwhile, has turned rabbinic selection into a science. A joint placement commission of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations' synagogue umbrella organization and the Central Conference of American Rabbis rabbini- cal group runs the Reform rabbi market. Rabbis enter the market when Reform temples gather for a few days at HUC's Cincinnati campus each spring to meet potential recruits. Congregations and students follow a