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04/13/2016 09:30 AMCongregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek (CBSRZ) in Chester has announced that Rabbi Marci Bellows will take over religious leadership of the synagogue on July 1. Members voted unanimously to ratify the decision on March 17.
“Rabbi Bellows will bring song, courage, excitement, and wisdom to our community,” said Congregation President Stephen Davis. “We are delighted to welcome another great leader to follow Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg.”
Goldenberg has successfully led the congregation for the past nine years. She will be establishing a new congregation in the New York metropolitan area focused on innovative styles of worship to involve young, unaffiliated Jews.
“As I begin a new chapter in my rabbinate, and as our family moves to a new community, I’m filled with gratitude for the time we have had here in the beautiful Connecticut River Valley,” Goldenberg said. “Our time at CBSRZ has been filled with meaningful moments of learning, celebration, and connections. And we have treasured the small town experience, living in Deep River and sending our kids to Deep River Elementary School. We will miss the wonderful people we’ve met, and hope to stay in touch. We won’t be too far!”
Bellows has been for seven years the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh, New York, a synagogue with some 400 families. Prior to that, she was an assistant rabbi and director of Adult Programs at Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York. Beyond her synagogue responsibilities, she has written for New York Jewish Week and for the Union for Reform Judaism’s “10 Minutes of Torah” and has been a faculty member at Union for Reform Judaism’s Crane Lake Camp and a participant in various Union for Reform Judaism programs. Bellows’s mother was cantorial soloist for 27 years at the family’s synagogue in Skokie, Illinois, where Bellows grew up. Bellows is a graduate of Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
“It is truly an honor and pleasure to be selected as the next rabbi at CBSRZ. The congregation, known for its warmth, wisdom, and wide variety of programming, is beautiful inside and out. I look forward to being part of its distinguished legacy and impact on the area,” Bellows said.
Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek—Hebrew for “House of Peace, Pursuers of Justice”—last year marked its 100th birthday. Congregants come from 36 towns, from Hartford to Westbrook, Norwich to New Haven. Its sanctuary, situated near the Connecticut River, is renowned in the international art world as the only public building ever designed by 20th century master artist Sol LeWitt.
For more information, visit www.cbsrz.org.