Leadership

    RABBI STEFANIE GEDAN 

    Rabbi 

    Greetings,
     It is an absolute pleasure and honor to be joining you as the
     rabbi this year. I am Rabbi Stefanie Gedan. When I was in         second grade, we did a mock Shabbat dinner in school.     
     One person was the mother, one person was the father, and
      the third person was the rabbi. Despite playing the rabbi
     most weeks, it was still a surprise to me when I was in  college that I decided to become a rabbi. Perhaps others in my life predicted it, but it wasn’t the path I always saw myself on.

My mom always says, “Who you are now is not who you will be in five years.” A frustrating sentence to hear as a teenager, she couldn’t be more right. Our life experiences change us and our growth will ultimately affect our desires, beliefs, and understandings. Hopefully, they will affect us positively, so that the desires we have are still truly our desires, and not what we thought were supposed to be them. If
that weren’t true, I’d be an engineer right now because that' s what I thought I wanted. Instead I let my experiences affect me and guide me toward a path that I wanted, one that made me happy.

Deciding to become a rabbi was mostly influenced by my junior year in college. I studied in Jerusalem and surrounded by an interfaith group of students, hailing from around the world, we came together to truly learn from one another. I connected closely with my Judaism as my friends connected with their religious traditions. Together, we challenged and sharpened each other’s beliefs, explored our
own ideologies, and committed to understand one another. This experience connected me with my Judaism.

What ultimately drew me to the rabbinate was wanting to facilitate that connection for others, however it may look for them. Not everyone is going to want to keep Shabbat or go to a yeshiva to study, like I did, but Judaism is beautiful in that there are many ways to connect with it. I genuinely believe that all Jews, no matter their religious practice or beliefs, have ownership over Judaism. It is theirs to say this
is my religion and this is what it inspires in me. While we are certainly guided by tradition, our sacred texts, and general understandings, it is for everyone, whether an avid synagogue attendee or never want to step foot inside, whether raised in the tradition or just joining, whether a scholar or opening a siddur for the first time, Judaism is for everyone.

I had initially sought military chaplaincy, in part because the people who serve in the military go through life’s challenging moments on top of the unique stressors of military life and I thought they deserved a rabbi, deserved a religious leader who would serve them, and accompany them through those moments. And while I ultimately pursued a different path for my rabbinate, the essence is the same. Life can be wondrous and easy or cruel and challenging and everything in between. And when in community,
surrounded by those who care, it can make the good moments more joyous and the hard moments more bearable.

It truly is an honor to be able to serve as your rabbi and I look forward to meeting you and being in community with all of you.
 

B’Shalom,
Rabbi Gedan

HAZZAN SHELDON M. LEVIN, 
Hazzan Emeritus

Hazzan Sheldon Levin is well known as a cantor, conductor and educator. From 2001 until 2003 he served as the President of the Cantors Assembly. For twenty-five years, he was the cantor and educational director for two congregations in Philadelphia.

Since  1999, he has been the Hazzan at Neve  Shalom in Metuchen, where  he also is the Adult Education Director and directs the  Hebrew School. Under his direction the Neve Shalom Adult  Education program was honored with the Gold Solomon Schechter Award by United Synagogue nationally for its performing arts programming and the Hebrew School accredited with Framework For Excellence.

He has edited seven books on Jewish music and education and recently edited Torah and Haftarah books for bar and Bat Mitzvah students for every Shabbat of the year. Hazzan Levin holds degrees in Opera, Voice, Hebrew and a Masters Degree in Choral Conducting and was granted Doctor of Music honoris causa from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Together with Cantor Anna West Ott, he formed a new Jewish Community Choir which meets in Highland Park and he also directs the NJ Cantors Choir. Prior to coming to NJ, he directed the Arbel Chorale in Philadelphia for eighteen years and for many summers has been on the staff of the North American Jewish Choral Festival. He has also spent several summers as music or prayer director at Camp Ramah in the Poconos and for twenty-one years he taught at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Philadelphia. When asked, he helps with the seniors at the JCC to perform, teach or lead the Seder. He regularly volunteers to lead services at Whispering Knolls. 

His cantorial teachers include Joseph Levine and Max Wolberg, for whom he edited a book of congregational melodies. Many of Hazzan Levin’s choral arrangements are published and sung by Jewish choirs throughout the country. He has written choral settings for composers including Debbie Friedman, Craig Taubman and many Israelis.

He was presented with the “Ateret Kavod” award by United Synagogue of the Delaware Valley. Together with his wife, Nita Polay Levin, they were honored by Israel Bonds with the “Crown of Jerusalem” award. He was recently honored at Neve Shalom with a special concert and reception highlighting his years there entitled “Levin@11.” On April 4, 2016 he received the Cantorial Award for Scholarship and Creativity the highest honor given by the Cantors Assembly.

RABBI GERALD L. ZELIZER

Rabbi Emeritus 

Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer came to Congregation Neve Shalom, Metuchen, New Jersey in 1970 and served as the Congregation's rabbi for 45 years until 2015. Under Rabbi Zelizer’s leadership Neve Shalom has merged with two congregations. Since Rabbi Zelizer arrived at Neve Shalom, his Adult Education classes, participatory services, and relationship to the youth have been commended for their excellence.

A fourth generation rabbi, born in Columbus, Ohio (1938), he was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he also received a Masters in Hebrew Literature (1964). Rabbi Zelizer writes op/ed essays for USA TODAY where he has written over 70 essays on matters of religion and American society, including the topics such as religion and the media; His op/ed essays on religion and popular culture also appear regularly in the Newark Star Ledger. Other of his writings have been published in many journals and newspapers, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, and major Jewish publications, including Judaism, The Jewish Spectator, The Reconstructionist and Conservative Judaism.  Rabbi Zelizer is currently instructor of homiletics of the senior class at the Jewish Theological Seminary. From 1992 to 1994 Rabbi Zelizer served as President of the International Rabbinical Assembly. From 1994-1999 he served on the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which formulates religious policy for the Conservative Movement.   Since 2000 he has been a member of the Ethics Committee of the RA.

In 1980, Rabbi Zelizer established the Jewish Family Service of Middlesex County. From 1995 to the present, he has been a member of the New Jersey Committee for a moratorium on the death penalty, served on its Executive Committee, and interacted with the Governor and legislative leadership to achieve a moratorium in 2006. In 1999, he was appointed to the Coalition of Religious Leaders of New Jersey, which crafts public positions on social issues and dialogues with New Jersey’s Governor and Senators on matters of public policy. In 2006, the United Synagogue of New Jersey bestowed upon him the Keter Torah Leadership Award for distinguished rabbinic service.

Prior to his arrival in Metuchen, he served as Rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1964-1966), and Temple Israel in Union, NJ (1966-1969). (His wife Viviana, is a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, and their son Julian E. Zelizer, is Professor of American History and Public Policy at Princeton University.) Julian is married to Meg Jacobs, Associate Professor History at MIT. Julian has two children, a daughter, Sophia Miriam, born June 1, 2002, and a son, Nathan Solomon, born on December 26, 2003; Meg has two children, Abigail, born June 8, 2001; and Claire born February 19, 2004.

Rabbi Zelizer's selected sermons, op/ed pieces, and schedule of upcoming classes are available on his website at rabbizelizer.com.