A Very Special Rabbi
by Norm Oshrin
Special to NJ Jewish News Before an audience of about 200 unabashed admirers - and after 38 years as religious leader of Temple Emanu-El in Edison - Rabbi Alfred B. Landsberg on June 3 was named the first “rabbi emeritus” of the 45-year-old house of worship.
The program in the sanctuary featured offerings of praise and memories from elected officials, congregants, former and present temple colleagues, and communal leaders.
“He inspired us and made us laugh and made us think,” said temple vice president Harry Bernstein, who served as the evening’s emcee. Bernstein, who is also cochair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, also praised Landsberg’s “unwavering commitment to social justice.”
Vered Helfgott, the temple’s former education director, said Landsberg is “my symbol of strength and compassion.... You affected my life through education, through relationships with others, through developing the thinking process - and, most of all, to always remember what really matters in life.
“I have learned that the seven wonders of the world are to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh, and to love.” One overriding theme prevailed: Landsberg’s unwavering humanity and compassion - as evidenced most poignantly by his policy of inclusion in the congregation.
“Temple Emanu-El has always welcomed Jew and gentile,” Landsberg said. “White, brown, black, yellow, green, or purple. Male or female. Gay, straight, bisexual, or transgendered. Wealthy or impoverished. The elated and the downtrodden. The traditional and the venturous. The seeds I have planted appear to have blossomed,” he said, adding: “Whether the plants are annuals or perennials is yet to be determined.”
Landsberg’s expressions were echoed from the bima by Bonnie Kantor, founding member of New Jersey’s Lesbian and Gay Havurah, and Jane Herman of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform movement.
Kantor credited Landsberg with helping to form her havura - “even though,” she said, “he wished there were no need for a group like ours.” Instead, she said, “his vision was that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, or transgendered Jews are welcomed unconditionally in every synagogue.”
Herman - who delivered greetings from URJ president Rabbi Eric Yoffie - said Landsberg taught her that “the best way to address the real problems of our society is with a loving hand deeply rooted in Torah.”
Ordained in 1962 at Hebrew Union College in Manhattan, Landsberg came to Emanu-El on July 1, 1968, from a pulpit in upstate New York.
“It was a matter of temperature,” he said in a pre-program interview. “I had a pulpit in Plattsburgh where winter was 13 months a year, and the thermometer spoke mainly in negative numbers. I would have gone anywhere to thaw out.”
“Anywhere” was Edison: a decision that was celebrated warmly during the June 3 tribute dessert oneg.
“He made me fall in love with Judaism and Jewish learning..., to accept people not as we wish they would be, but as they are,” said Diana Herman, a past Emanu-El president and now president of the URJ New Jersey-West Hudson Valley Council.
Additional tributes came from:
• Edison Township Mayor Jun Choi, who ticked off a roster of organizations served by Landsberg, which, he said, “were not just for Temple Emanu-El, but for the whole community.” Choi and Metuchen Council president Richard Weber also brought proclamations of congratulations from their respective constituencies. • Robert Ring, a temple past president, who said, “If you ever really needed a hug, he was there to give it to you.” • Congregant John Richard, who, in a message read by Bernstein, said, “He helped me to raise my sense of self. He always raised our values to a new level of understanding and made Judaism real and important to me.” • Interim rabbi Ilene Bogosian: “He always gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.” • Rhona Kotler, immediate temple past president, who presented Landsberg with a memory book from congregants and said, “He was a friend, mentor, storyteller, spiritual leader, sharing wisdom....”
• Temple president Gail Apsel, who told Landsberg, “We pray that the best is yet to be..., that you find new meaning and inspiration in the path of life.” In presiding over the dedication of a new Torah scroll in his honor, six past presidents offered a “congregational blessing for Rabbi Landsberg.”
In a video presentation produced by David Simbol - whose wife, Sandy, was principal organizer of the event - two former temple cantors and a rabbi paid homage to Landsberg. Cantor Martha Novick dubbed the pony-tailed Landsberg - who frequently came to the temple on his motorcycle - “the coolest rabbi”; Cantor Florence Merel, with Rabbi Melinda F. Panken, who now is at Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan, thanked Landsberg for his friendship and guidance.
Toward the end of the program, about 20 younger congregants paid tribute to the honoree, presenting him with a variety of sweets, which Landsberg accepted with hugs and kisses.
The program could have been held eight years ago when, after 30 years, Landsberg contemplated his retirement. Instead, he opted to remain as part-time religious leader.
Why?
“It takes a long time to find the correct words to say ‘goodbye,’” he responded. On the evening of June 3, Landsberg found those words. In his signature mellifluous tones, he said he toyed with a variety of definitions for “emeritus” and chose “having served one’s time as a soldier” - as derived from the Latin.
“I’ve been a rabbi for 44 years, and I guess I have fought many battles,” Landsberg said. “The battle for human decency, for people not to be separated by skin or religious persuasion, sexual orientation, gender, money, or intelligence.
“I’ve learned over the years, if religion is afraid of being wounded and thus tries to avoid fighting the ethical battle, unpopular and difficult, it’s not truly religious. It is a facade, hypocrisy.”
Landsberg scoffed at the traditional notion of retirement as it might apply to him - approaching it rather as “a life-enhancing introduction, rather than a sullen conclusion.”
“To retire is to begin to die,” he quoted cellist Pablo Casals.
“I hope to have a meaningful retirement,” the rabbi emeritus told his audience. “A retirement of life, not death. I am retiring from work - but not from hearing the voice of the universe calling out: ‘Life is good.’
“All I desire is to not be buried alive,” he said, quoting statesman-author Lord Chesterfield. “I will not be buried alive, as long as I am fascinated by a bird building a nest, by hearing a child laugh....
“I am retiring as your rabbi and I want to say thank you for allowing me to share in your lives. If I have been a success as a rabbi, you will perceive that the only way to find a God is to gently caress the face of humanity.”