L’Dor Vador — From One Generation to the Next

A Message from your Co-Presidents:

Dear Emanu-El Community,

We want to convey our gratitude to all of you — our congregants, clergy, and staff — for the resilience, strength and care you have shown each other during these often challenging and unpredictable times. We are especially thankful to our Richard and Rhoda Goldman Senior Rabbis Beth and Jonathan Singer for their visionary leadership in not only steadily guiding us through this lengthy pandemic, but continuously planning for the health and well-being of Emanu-El’s future. Their perseverance has inspired us and bound our sacred community together.

Because of our senior rabbis’ wisdom and foresight and in the spirit of healthy succession planning, we are writing to share some important news about the future leadership of Emanu-El that we believe will maintain this magnificent momentum and further deliver on the promise of our collective future. Rabbis Beth and Jonathan Singer have decided that they will retire and become senior rabbis emeriti in 2025. With this news, the Board of Directors, with the full support of the Rabbis Singer, has unanimously designated Rabbi Ryan Bauer to succeed them as our next senior rabbi. We are thrilled that Rabbi Bauer, who has long been a pillar of our community, will build upon the ongoing legacy of Rabbis Beth and Jonathan, and guide Emanu-El to its bright future ahead.

In selecting the next senior rabbi of Emanu-El, your board leadership has chosen to promote someone from within our community who knows us so well and is dedicated to building on the legacy of the Rabbis Singer and the many senior rabbis who have come before them. With his more than 15 years as a beloved spiritual leader and gifted rabbi at Emanu-El, our congregation will benefit from Rabbi Bauer’s deep knowledge of, and dedication to, our Emanu-El community as he carries forward the achievements of Rabbis Beth and Jonathan while developing his own vision for the temple’s future. Our congregation is also blessed to have such a talented and collaborative larger clergy team that includes Rabbis Mintz, Rodich, and Parris and Cantors Attie and Luck, and the board is committed to ensuring that we continue to support them all here at Emanu-El.

The Rabbis Singer will continue as co-senior rabbis until they transition to senior rabbis emeriti, expanding upon the many thriving programs they have created over their rabbinate since 2013 — from transformative forums for worship and education, to leading social justice work and strengthening partnerships with local, civic, and religious leaders. All these achievements will continue to flourish as Rabbi Bauer prepares for his leadership role under the mentorship of the Rabbis Singer. We have so much to look forward to, energized by the vibrancy the Rabbis Singer have brought to Emanu-El NEXT, and the excitement surrounding the new building’s anticipated completion in 2025.

As we begin to envision this transition for our congregation, we at once appreciate the wisdom that comes from inherited tradition, while looking forward with excitement to how Judaism continually evolves as it is passed on from one set of leaders to the next.

We imagine news of this upcoming transition may generate questions; please don’t hesitate to reach out to either one of us, your board co-presidents, at [email protected]

We also hope you will take a few minutes to hear directly from the Rabbis Singer and from Rabbi Bauer in a video that can be watched below or by clicking here.

Leading up to 2025, there will be many opportunities to celebrate the Rabbis Singer for their immeasurable contributions to Emanu-El and to hear from Rabbi Bauer on where he hopes to lead Emanu-El in the years to come. Until then, we remain grateful for the ongoing strength and vibrancy of our extraordinary Emanu-El community.

Sincerely,