Clergy Retirement as Re”wire”ment
By Cantor Barbara Finn
In this article, compiled and edited by Cantor Barbara Finn, is a delightful sharing of some of the ways our local retired clergy are spending their time.
Rabbi Deborah Brin retired twice. The first time was without any planning or intention. She quit her job when her beloved Yael was diagnosed with leukemia and focused on her health and taking care of the business of managing their house and their lives. The second time she retired was when Yael died. Her "job" of taking care of Yael was suddenly over. While she still has to take care of herself, the dog and the house . . . she is learning how to have a life alone. She is trying new activities, some on-line courses and in-person adult education; she signed up for a gym membership paid for by supplemental health insurance and has met with a trainer a few times. Some new things, like a square dancing class, are not going to be repeated but she tried it out! She will be travelling, which is not something she has done much of before. She will be in France to be with friends for the High Holy Days and Yael’s first yartzeit. She will be in Barcelona for her birthday. Last year, the second day of Rosh HaShanah, the day Yael died, was on October 4th and she was buried in Minneapolis on Oct 8th (Rabbi Brin’s birthday). It has taken a while to understand that her death and the subsequent burial on her birthday was the beginning of the shift from "we" to "I." Rabbi Brin is now on a different journey of learning to live by herself and discovering she wants to and what she likes unmediated by what "we" did or what Yael liked. Rosh HaShanah is Yael’s yartzeit and it will always be a reminder that there are new things in store, good and hard, wonderful and challenging, and the important reminder that we get to grow older. Rabbi Brin is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Nahalat Shalom where she served for ten years.
Rabbi Paul Citrin likes to joke that he has a PhD in retirement---he's done it three times. However, he does not see retirement merely as pickle ball heaven. Once a rabbi always a teacher. Thus, Rabbi Citrin continues to teach Jewish topics at Congregation Albert, the JCC and at other locations. He still loves to chant Torah and to officiate at the occasional life cycle ceremonies. He does not miss the meetings or rigid schedules. He may be retired, but he is not tired! Rabbi Citrin retired from Temple Beth-El in Las Cruces but has served in several other congregations over the years including Congregation Albert.
Cantor Barbara Finn’s first love about being retired is the leisurely pace it brings. Having time to enjoy a morning walk, coffee with her husband, reading (not Jewish topics), and playing in the flower and vegetable gardens are truly welcome pleasures. During the course of her first year of retirement, Cantor Finn has traveled to see her family in Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City, and Auburn, Indiana. Because of her love for National Parks and Presidential Libraries, she was able to add Hot Springs National Park, Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns, and The William Jefferson Clinton Library to places visited. This year she will be adding White Sands National Park and the George H. W. Bush Library. So as not to be completely retired, she serves a very small congregation in Odessa, Texas for High Holy Days. She attended the annual convention of the American Conference of Cantors in Washington D. C. and participated in the Kol HaDorot Concert featuring the pioneering women Cantors. She took the trip of a lifetime to eight countries in Asia: Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan. She has been to Denver twice, and Disneyland twice in the last year celebrating her 70th birthday along with Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. Spending more time with her grandson is a blessing and a joy. She still loves being a Cantor and is happy to lead the service at Shalom House once in a while as well as fill in at Congregation Albert on occasion as Cantor Emerita.
Rabbi Arthur Flicker is partially retired. He continues to provide part time chaplaincy service for the Jewish Care Program. He also teaches in the B'nai Israel Religious School. He volunteers at the Sunport and the Vitalant Blood Center. He also volunteers to lead the B'nai Israel Monday/Thursday minyan, this year celebrating its 50th year. They are currently the only regularly scheduled minyan in New Mexico starting at 8:00 am and they offer bagels, coffee and juice afterwards. Everyone in the community is welcome. Rabbi Flicker served for fourteen years as Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel.
Rabbi Min Kantrowitz usually tells people that she’s been trying to be retired for years, but has not yet been fully successful. She is a founding member of the New Mexico Jewish Journal Editorial Board, for which she writes a regular column, continues having a major supportive role in the Albuquerque Chevre Kaddisha, reads newspaper articles weekly for the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, and participates in a local art group and monthly book group. She enjoys doing life cycle events and teaching when the occasion arises. She is looking forward to co-leading High Holiday services with Hazzan Cindy Freedman for HaMakom in Santa Fe. She enjoys continuing her Jewish learning and is currently participating in a Lurianic Kabbalah class facilitated by a noted Israeli teacher. She delights in family — her husband and life partner of more than 60 years, her daughter and three wonderful grandsons, and her little dog Mazel! Rabbi Kantrowitz has served the Albuquerque Jewish community in many capacities including Community Jewish Chaplain.
Rabbi Darah Lerner not only thinks but has experienced that clergy never really retire. For many of us it is who we are. Even in the most unlikely moments and places, the privilege of being there – with and for people in joy and sorrow – calls us. A concrete example: Rabbi Lerner was at the local pharmacy and one of the people who works there was clearly having a hard time. She offered an ear, first as just an appreciative patron but then upon hearing what they were going through she started pulling from her rabbinic experience to find words of comfort as well as teachings to respond to the moment. Retirement is an opportunity to not be so busy with the job of a Rabbi but rather to live into the calling and meaning of being a Rabbi. Rabbi Lerner is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth El in Bangor, Maine where she served for seventeen years.
Ever since the first time Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld thought about what retirement would look like, he figured retirement would be doing all the things he loved in life and the rabbinate, without having to worry about being paid. Little did he know how right he would be. He also knew, that for the sake of the congregation and his successor, he would need to limit his presence to allow whomever was hired to establish themselves. He did not realize how healthy that separation would be personally as well. He gets to teach, do the occasional life-cycle event, study and on occasion lead services, all the things that he loved about being a congregational rabbi. He believes he has the best successor in the history of rabbinic successor-rabbi emeritus relations. Just as he respects the boundaries with the congregation and the Rabbi, she respects his. Through his career, Rabbi Rosenfeld has seen many successor-emeritus relationships; most were fraught with tension between them and with the congregation. He feels truly blessed to have the relationship with Rabbi Surget and Congregation Albert that he has.
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Shabbat with Friends: Recapturing Together the Joy of Shabbat
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Where the North Ends, A Novel by Hugo Moreno
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