Keeping one of the world?s oldest religions alive is Rabbi Sonya Starr?s mission. Starr leads the Columbia Jewish Congregation, founded by Columbia?s pioneers in 1971.
She came to the Columbia in 2000 after serving in Connecticut and earning a master?s degree in Hebrew Letters at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania.
The Columbia Jewish Congregation, comprised of about 320 families, adopted reconstructionist principles nearly two decades ago.
Q: How do you define the reconstructionist movement?
A: The grassroots movement came out of the ?60s. We began as egalitarians and haven?t changed. Every congregation looks a bit different because the community makes informed and educated decisions for themselves … [Unlike in other branches of Judaism that regard a child as Jewish based on his mother?s faith,] it does not matter if a child?s father or mother is Jewish, it only matters that the child is being raised Jewish. We welcome gay and lesbian families and [heterosexual] couples.
Q: What does your typical day include?
A: Every day is atypical … When I first started, I structured my week in a very organized manner. For good or for bad, I?m not convinced which, the longer I?ve been here, the less my day is structured.
A rabbi has a huge variety of tasks … It?s a double-edged sword ? we?re counselors, teachers, administrators and authorities. The skills needed for each task are very dependent upon the situation and what we bring to the job. The more comfortable you are, the more you can switch roles and deviate from a structure.
Q: What are qualities essential to being a rabbi?
A: I think it?s important for any religious leader to have a sense of perspective and to look at the whole community, not just the pieces that make sense to you. It?s also important to see what?s going to be done today and what can be done in the future as well as having a sense of humor, being modest and acknowledging that we stand before God, not ourselves.
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