By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
Rabbi Harold Kravitz was preparing for a family vacation on the Jersey shore when the Jewish World called. He and his wife, Cindy Reich, were looking forward to visiting with their children and two young grandchildren.
Reich and Kravitz are the parents of Gabriel (Yael Smiley), Talia and Elana, and the grandparents of Joshua and Yona Smiley Kravitz.
A Rabbinic Milestone
Kravitz, a native of Philadelphia, came to Adath Jeshurun Congregation, the Conservative shul in Minnetonka, in 1987, after his rabbinic ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 1996, he has held the Max Newman Family Chair in Rabbinics at the synagogue.
His new title at Adath Jeshurun is rabbi emeritus; as of June 2023, Rabbi Aaron S. Weininger is the new senior rabbi.
“I’ve not retired; I stepped down as the senior rabbi at the end of May,” Kravitz responded to a question about his current status. He will be on staff full time for one year at Adath Jeshurun “before I actually retire.”
In any case, this change in status provides an opportunity to review the career of a rabbi who has made his mark in the local Jewish community and nationally.
In addition to his long tenure in the Adath Jeshurun pulpit, Kravitz is the current president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the umbrella group of rabbis in the Conservative/Masorti Movement. He served on the RA’s Va’ad Hakavod (Professional Ethics Committee) for 18 years and chaired it for six years, according to his biography on the Adath Jeshurun website.
Kravitz also is a past board chair of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and served on the rabbinic advisory committee of the Center for Contemporary Mussar.
On the national scene, colleagues of Kravitz praise him to the heights.
“The first qualification for Jewish leadership in any setting is to be a mensch, and Rabbi Kravitz’s picture is in the dictionary as the definition of that term,” commented Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) and the Rabbinical Assembly.
“The key to his success, in his congregation and as the leader of our network of 1,600 rabbis around the world, is that he values relationships,” Blumenthal added, in an email sent to the Jewish World. “In phone calls, walks and conversations, he approaches each person with curiosity, a listening ear and tremendous empathy. In turn, he takes what he learns and creates a powerful vision for the Jewish future, which is embodied in the success of Adath Jeshurun, MAZON and the renewal of the Rabbinical Assembly that we have experienced in recent years.”
Blumenthal concluded, “We are very grateful to Harold for all he has done in his synagogue and the Twin Cities, for our community of rabbis, and for the larger world.”
In an unusual coup for a local synagogue, or any synagogue, members of the clergy are leading two of the major Conservative organizations: Kravitz at the Rabbinical Assembly, and Hazzan Joanna S. Dulkin, president of the Cantors Assembly.
“It has been a joy to work alongside Harold Kravitz both at Adath and as partners and leaders in our global Conservative movement,” Dulkin told the Jewish World. “He is a thoughtful, authentic and humble leader whose breadth of experience and kind patience allows him to truly show up for his congregants and colleagues. In his years as Adath’s senior rabbi, Harold set the example of compassionate leadership from the top down that has defined Adath’s culture as the caring community we are so proud to be.”
Commenting on the prestige that attends to Adath Jeshurun, with a rabbi and cantor serving as national leaders of the Conservative movement, Dulkin said, “The [Rabbinical Assembly] is so fortunate to have him as their president, and I am thrilled for our movement that the RA and CA presidents are, for what we think is the first time in history, bima partners working at the same congregation.”
During a conversation with the Jewish World, Kravitz considered some of the changes he has seen over more than three decades at the shul.
When Kravitz was hired at Adath Jeshurun, the synagogue building was located in South Minneapolis, at Dupont Avenue and 34th Street (near the current Jewish World office in Uptown). The new rabbi was apprised of the coming move to a brand-new building in Minnetonka and decided to go along with the transition, which he called “one gigantic change.”
“People thought the congregation would change dramatically because it was in the suburbs,” Kravitz recalled, “but I think it has changed, but not that dramatically. We still draw people from all over the metropolitan area.”
And even before the COVID-19 pandemic foreclosed in-person services at houses of worship, Adath Jeshurun was learning “how to operate beyond the walls of the building,” according to Kravitz. During the pandemic, people could attend morning minyan, “streaming in from Florida and California,” which was a change in the usual routine, Kravitz remarked with a laugh.
In his Rosh Hashana sermon last year, Kravitz talked about what he hoped to accomplish in his tenure and focused on “certain qualities to the congregation that I always appreciated and have been constant. I feel very grateful for the kind of people who have been associated with Adath Jeshurun, the kindness of the congregation and its leadership.”
He also commented on the commitment of congregants and lay leaders “to building Jewish community … and tremendous support for our clergy and staff.”
And in an unusual aspect of the rabbinic transition at Adath Jeshurun, Rabbi Weininger has become the first openly gay person appointed to the position of senior rabbi in a large Conservative congregation. Weininger also was the first openly gay person admitted to rabbinical school in the Conservative movement.
“Rabbi Weininger has been with us for 11 years. He’s a very capable and talented and hardworking person,” Kravitz said. “I think people really feel his kindness. … I have a lot of confidence in his ability, and we have a very special relationship.
(American Jewish World, August 2023)
