AUGUST 11 • 2022 | 25

pare to become cantors or rab-
bis, Goodman felt some envy. 
He enjoyed the idea of 
advanced rabbinical studies, 
thinking, “Wouldn’t it be fun!” 
But he felt misgivings about 
applying to rabbinical school. 
Would it be fair to ask the rab-
binical school to give him access 
to “all these great teachers and 
learning opportunities” when 
a younger person could expect 
to serve in the rabbinate for far 
longer? 
People at the Reconstruct-
ionist Rabbinical College 
replied, “We have got plenty of 
extra chairs.
”

STARTING A 
NEW JOURNEY 
The Reconstructionist 
Rabbinical College is the sole 
rabbinical school operated by 
the Renewing Judaism move-
ment (the new name of the 
Reconstructionist movement). 
Congregation T’
chiyah is affili-
ated with this movement. 
So he applied, was accepted, 
and completed the curriculum 
in seven years. 
Celebrating Rabbi Goodman’s 
graduation, Rabbi Melissa 
Heller, director of admis-
sions and recruitment at the 
Reconstructionist Rabbinical 
College (RRC), reiterated the 
school’s commitment to older 
students: “The RRC student 
community is diverse and inclu-
sive. We strive for and celebrate 
that diversity, seeking to mirror 
the Jews and the communities 
that our rabbis serve. Second 
career students have always 
been a part of that diversity.
”
This year, Heller explains, 
about 10% of the current 
incoming class consists of rab-
binical students in search of 
their second careers — though 
not all are in their 60s. 
Goodman reflects on the 
opportunities and challenges 

facing rabbis in America now: 
Years ago, people belonged to 
synagogues just because; even 
people who didn’t attend ser-
vices belonged to synagogues. 
Now, he says, “if young 
people are not going to a syna-
gogue, they won’t join. There’s 
no reason to if they’re not going. 
And that’s good. The challenge 
for us and for the emerging 
corps of rabbis is to foster a 
Jewish community that people 
want to belong to, a place with 
music and learning where peo-
ple want to be Jews.
”
And the community should 
welcome not only Jews. 
“
A lot of people come into 
Jewish space because of per-
sonal curiosity, the same way 
some Jews do to end up at 
the Unitarian Church or the 
Quaker meeting. A lot of peo-
ple of Christian background 
come, but most often they come 
in because they’re investing 
their lives in a partnership 
with someone of Jewish back-
ground,
” he says. 
“They’re not necessarily going 
the Ruth route: ‘Your people 
shall be my people; your God 
shall be my God.
’
Goodman continues, “I want 
to believe that the emerging 
Jewish community is going to 
open. They are going to be very 
Jewish, but they’re going to be 
very open and welcoming to 
the people who are there for 
whatever reason, and only one 
of those reasons is ‘my parents 
happen to be Jewish.
’ 
“We should be open to peo-
ple who say, ‘My husband is 
Jewish and we decided to raise 
our kids with a Jewish identity’ 
or ‘I like the book club’ or ‘I like 
the music’ or ‘I like the Torah 
study’ or whatever the variety of 
reasons. So, I think we should 
build towers and not so much 
walls. We need wide open 
doors.
”

Goodman saw some of 
this openness in the Jewish 
community of Detroit: “The 
non-Orthodox congregations 
work together easily, without 
significant barriers,
” and, he 
says, the Orthodox community 
in Oak Park “seemed to be rela-
tively ‘barrier free’ to the various 
flavors of traditional Judaism, 
from Or Chadash to Young 
Israel to Dovid Ben Nuchim to 
Chabad, all of which I experi-
enced at one time or another.
”
Goodman notes he still has 

strong connections to Detroit 
— “I have a daughter, a son-in-
law and grandbaby.
” 
Susannah Goodman, the 
daughter whom he carried 
on his first venture into 
Congregation T’
chiyah, now 
serves as deputy director of 
Detroit Jews for Justice (which 
her father describes as the social 
justice project of Congregation 
T’
chiyah). She and her hus-
band belong to T’
chiyah and 
to the Isaac Agree Downtown 
Synagogue. 

Rabbi David 
Goodman with 
his grandson 
Saul Mondry 
in Detroit

Rabbi David 
and Pearl 
Goodman in 
Pennsylvania

