Rabbi Paul J. Jacobson

          Rabbi Paul J Jacobson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1979.  He graduated from Washington University in St Louis with College Honors after earning a bachelor’s degree in History and Spanish with a minor in the Humanities.  Following his graduation from Washington University in 2001, Rabbi Jacobson enrolled in Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion rabbinical school, spending his first year in Jerusalem and subsequent years on the Cincinnati campus.

          During his tenure at the Hebrew Union College , Rabbi Jacobson honed his rabbinical skills in a number of different communities.  He worked as a Rabbinic Intern under Rabbi Lucy Dinner in Raleigh , North Carolina , and served as Student Rabbi in Beckley , West Virginia and Sioux Falls , South Dakota .  Demonstrating his commitment to Jewish pluralism, he interned at a local Conservative congregation under the supervision of Rabbi Irvin M Wise.  Rabbi Jacobson was the first Progressive rabbinical student to participate in this internship. 

          In addition to his pulpit experience, Rabbi Jacobson was also present as a chaplain in local hospitals.  He completed 2 ½ units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), working as a contract-based on-call chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre and the Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati.  Rabbi Jacobson credits the CPE programme for helping him to continually develop a sense of self-awareness, a ministry of presence, and the ability to establish space for sacred listening in pastoral encounters.

          Rabbi Jacobson is interested in a variety of different subjects.  His rabbinical thesis was entitled, “Leyn Changes: The Evolution and Future of Torah Reading in Reform Judaism.”  Additionally, he enjoys studying liturgy, Midrash, textual criticism, and Hebrew grammar.  He hopes to teach in a variety of capacities to a wide range of age groups while serving the Temple Emanuel community.  In his spare time, Rabbi Jacobson loves to cook, listen to baseball games and classical music, walk along the beach, and play piano.

          The Congregation of the Temple Emanuel celebrated Rabbi Jacobson’s Induction, welcoming him to the community as Assistant Rabbi, on Sunday 10 September 2006.  For a text of Rabbi Jacobson’s remarks, please click on the link below.

You can contact Rabbi Paul Jacobson by sending email to pjacobson@emanuel.org.au

Rabbi Paul J. Jacobson

The Congregation of the Temple Emanuel
Sydney , Australia
10 September 2006

Induction Address

            Sitting around a long table in a darkened room, a group of news reporters study the black-and-white images that flicker on the screen in front of them and listen intently to the accompanying narrative.  Among the group is the mild-mannered, diligent reporter who scribbles comments feverishly on his spiral notepad; he is known to us only as Thompson.  His supervisor, Rawlston, sits beside him, scrutinizing the newsreel.

          Though Thompson is pleased with his work, an obituary of one Charles Foster Kane, Rawlston remains unconvinced.  Thompson’s portrayal lacks something – character.  As the newsreel concludes, Rawlston appears determined to learn something more.  He remarks:

What we’ve just seen are the outlines of a career – what’s behind the career? 
How is he different from Ford?…Or Rockefeller?  Or John Doe? 
Here’s a man who might have been President. 
He’s been loved and hated and talked about as much as any man in our time – but when he comes to die, he’s got something on his mind called “Rosebud.” 
What does that mean?[1]

          After this criticism, Thompson remains eager, filled with a childlike exuberance, to distribute this newsreel.  But Rawlston will have no such thing.  He sends Thompson back into the field to do more research on this societal icon, particularly the significance of Kane’s final utterance: the word “Rosebud.”  As Rawlston sends Thompson on his journey, he reminds him, “Nothing is ever better than finding out what makes people tick.”

          A powerful statement, whether it establishes the foundation of Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane, or it forms the basis for our journey and relationship together, which begins officially with today’s induction ceremony.  I am deeply honoured and humbled to be inducted as a rabbi here at Temple Emanuel and I believe that Rawlston’s charge to Thompson rings true here and now.

          In building and nurturing a community, Nothing is ever better than finding out what makes people tick.  Like Thompson, searching to discover the meaning behind Kane’s final word, we engage with one another, learning about our passion for Judaism.  Day after day we are granted these opportunities – to participate in the activities that excite us, to celebrate the festivals that connect us to our past and energise us for the future, and to discover and discuss ideas that inspire us to help repair and redeem our often imperfect world.

          But understanding what makes each of us “tick” is not such an easy task.  Especially when we pause and consider that each of us is fundamentally unique!  What I find intellectually stimulating may not interest you!  And what you find prayerful may be less spiritual for the person seated next to you.  When we recognise these innate differences, we ought to remember the bumper sticker affixed to Rabbi Ninio’s door which says, Yeish yoteir mi derech achat lihyot yehudi.  There is more than one way of being Jewish.  And in a community like ours, we must find ways to celebrate our differences, embracing the numerous and varied ways in which each of us “tick.”

          Our Torah portion for this week serves as our guide in this process.  Parashat Nitzavim recognises that the Israelite community is composed of many different people, with diverse abilities, interests, and passions.  Offering his parting words to the Israelites, Moses charges the people saying, “You stand this day, all of you, before the LORD your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer—to enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions.”[2]

          At first glance, the text seems lengthy and superfluous.  Why do we need such description?  Why mention the tribal heads, all the men, women, and children?  Why couldn’t the authors of Torah have written with greater brevity and said simply, “You stand this day, all of you, to enter into God’s covenant.”  Contemporary commentator Jeffrey Tigay stresses that the description in our text indicates that “Every single Israelite is taking part in the ceremony establishing the covenant with God.”[3] 

          Similarly, in our community, every single one of us must play a significant part, in our own way.  A community does not merely subsist on water-drawers or woodchoppers, parasha class attendees or morning minyan members, but rather on the dedicated and dutiful participation, the visions, values, and positive contributions of all its members.  As twelfth-century commentator Baruch of Medzibozh has taught, “The whole of the community is greater than the sum of its parts.  Each individual Israelite may be flawed and imperfect, but when all of them join together, the strengths and good qualities of each are reinforced and magnified.”[4] 

          Which brings us to the heart of the matter: What is it that makes each of us tick Jewishly?  A passion for Israel , an interest in social justice, a personal quest for greater spirituality and connectedness with God?  Maybe, like one of our members, it’s a Qabbalat Shabbat service with musical instruments and meditation?  Or like another of our members it’s a cooking class with innovative Jewish recipes?  Or it’s an interfaith dialogue programme for Moslems and Jews, where teenagers learn about one another’s faith and heritage so that each may live in harmony?  Perhaps participating in the annually acclaimed Purim shpiel, having an opportunity to chant from the Torah, or engage in a critical study of Jewish text makes you tick.

          Maybe we’re still discovering.  Then again, maybe none of these ideas excite some of us.  And because I am fundamentally different from every person in this room, I can only present to you my ideas, my interests, my passions, that is to say, what makes me tick.  But Parashat Nitzavim teaches us that the covenant was established “both with those who are standing with us here this day…and with those who are not with us here this day.”[5]  If a covenant is to be established with each of us, then our community misses out when our members are disinterested or desire a programme that is overlooked.  Our community will only survive if we continue to create dynamic and diverse activities, offered in accordance with the suggestions and thoughtful contributions of our membership.  It is imperative that we work together and share our insight and creativity.

          And yet, as we look at the world around us, we recognise that our freedoms are in severe jeopardy – as fundamentalism wages its assault against liberal and progressively-minded communities.  I was excited to join the Temple Emanuel community because I sensed that you know what is at stake.  We are not, and we do not seek to become a cookie-cutter synagogue where everyone practices Judaism the same way, and where everything fits into a nice, neat compartment because God or its leadership commands that it be that way.  Rather, we seek to celebrate the beauty of individuality that should be cherished in each Jewish observance.  We exist with the purpose of embracing our differences and growing in relationship to one another, to the majesty of Jewish tradition, and the mystery that is God.  And so, at this very special moment, as we begin our journey together, I look forward to learning what it is that makes you tick.  Because like Rawlston charged Thompson, “Nothing is ever better than finding out.”