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Rabbi
David C. Levy, a graduate of Brandeis University, holds degrees in
Psychology and Elementary Education, and is a certified preschool and elementary
educator. He received an M.A. in Hebrew Letters and his Rabbinic Ordination from
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, OH. His Rabbinic
Thesis, The Perception and Reporting of the Holocaust by American Reform Jewry
in the Decade 1942-1952, was refereed by Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus z"l.
In 1991, Rabbi Levy was awarded the title of R.J.E. (Reform Jewish Educator) by
a joint commission of the Reform movement. He also holds certificates in
Spiritual and Chemical Dependency Counseling and Prepare/Enrich Marital
Counseling and has done post-graduate training in Family Systems Theory.
Additionally, Rabbi Levy received an Honorable Discharge with the rank of
Lieutenant from the United States Naval Reserve Chaplain's Corps.
Rabbi Levy was the founding Co-Chair of the Hartford Jewish Coalition for
Literacy (A community wide organization whose aim is to place Jewish literacy
volunteers into public elementary schools which serve "at-risk" populations) and
currently serves as the Chair of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy. He
also serves on the national board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice and was a founding board member of their Connecticut affiliate.
Rabbi Levy has also served as the Chair of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of the Greater Hartford Jewish Federation, Vice President of the St.
Louis Jewish Community Relations Council and was a founding Board Member of
Missourians for Freedom and Justice (a statewide civil rights organization
formed in response to activities of the radical Religious Right).
Rabbi Levy was also an Adjunct Professor of History at the University of
Missouri/St. Louis and his outside pastoral activities included serving as the
Jewish Chaplain for the Federal Penitentiary at Marion, IL, and the clergy
representative on the Glastonbury Youth and Family Services Commission.
Prior to coming to Temple Shalom in July 2006, Rabbi Levy served for nine years
as Rabbi of Congregation Kol Haverim, Glastonbury, CT, four years as Rabbi of
Congregation B'nai El, St. Louis, MO, and five years as Associate Rabbi of
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, Short Hills, NJ.
Rabbi Levy was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. His wife Julie is a native of
Detroit, MI. They have two children, Joshua and Sarah.
This month will mark not only the beginning of a new chapter in my family’s life, but a new chapter in our congregation’s life as well. Together with Rabbi Soffin, you have written and brought to a close a very beautiful chapter in the text that is Temple Shalom. It is with great excitement that I look forward to being the Rabbi of the Kehillah Kedosha (sacred community) that you have helped create.
It is also with no small measure of humility that I look to you to join with me in writing what I know we both hope and pray will be an equally magnificent next chapter in text of our congregation’s life. As sweet as the closing verses of the last chapter have been, may we join in making equally sweet the opening verses of the next. Perhaps the sweetest part of new beginnings is the forging of new relationships and friendships. I look forward to meeting you all in the coming months, but I do hope you will take advantage of the opportunity this summer to drop in, say hello and introduce yourself and your family.
Whether at worship services or during the week in the office, I look forward to
meeting you and forging a lasting relationship in which we will be blessed to
share life’s joys and soften life’s trials. The future is filled with
blank pages awaiting our dreams, our spirits, our ideas and our actions.
What we can create together to fill those pages is limited only by our
imagination… let’s begin writing!
L’Shalom,
Rabbi David C. Levy
Rabbi
Emeritus Joel E. Soffin served as the spiritual leader of Temple Shalom for
twenty-seven years from 1979 to his retirement in June of 2006. Before entering
rabbinical school, he pursued a PhD in economics. He was ordained in 1976 at
HUC-JIR and served as an Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in West Hartford,
CT before taking the pulpit in Succasunna.
Rabbi Soffin has a passion for social action and Tikkun Olam projects, combined with a search for spirituality and holiness in life. In addition to serving as a member of the Commission on Social Action of the Reform Movement for 15 years, he had undertaken many projects with the congregation of Temple Shalom: adopting the Jews in a Ukrainian Shtetl and restoring their Synagogue and cemetery; traveling to Mendoza, Argentina to support the Jewish community during their time of financial crisis; supporting the ‘Chicken Project’ which helped the campesinos in El Salvador; and founding Shalom Ethiopia and The Million Quarter Project after seeing first-hand the conditions of Ethiopian Jewish Children in Addis Ababa to name just a few. Rabbi Soffin was also the creator of the Reform Movement’s Adult Mitzvah Corps which has traveled to locations in Kentucky, New Jersey, Vermont, Tennessee, Louisiana and upcoming in 2007, Jerusalem.
As Rabbi Emeritus, members of Temple Shalom will have the opportunity to participate in future social action projects as well as experience his creative and challenging teaching style in the years ahead. Rabbi Emeritus Soffin resides in New York City with his wife, Sandy, a computer analyst.
Cantor Kathy J. Barr joined the clergy at Temple Shalom in July, 2007. Her worship style is one of inclusion, balancing the contemplative with joyful participation, believing that music is the language of the soul, and through music, the soul can truly receive and transmit blessing. Her philosophy is one of embracing all of Judaism, and finding that which works for the individual as well as the community. Cantor Barr works with each Bar or Bat Mitzvah candidate both individually and in class format, giving each student a grounding in the skills necessary to easily chant from the Torah scroll, and to lead their service with confidence.
Cantor Barr was ordained by The Academy for Jewish Religion, a seminary dedicated to Jewish pluralism, located in New York City and was certified by the American Conference of Cantors as a Regular Member. She received her Baccalaureate degree from New York University in Philosophy, with minors in Hebrew and Mathematics. After graduating, she plunged headlong into dual careers of singing and advertising, eventually melding the two into her own business of concert promotion and choral contracting.
Raised in Reform, Cantor Barr has always been involved in Social Action. As a teen she was active in Camp Shalom, a day camp sponsored by two Manhattan Upper West Side congregations that provided a fun, safe environment for inner city kids from the Lincoln Square Projects. She also counseled runaways, finding them places to stay and facilitating a dialog between them and their parents.
A performer since the age of seven, Cantor Barr was active in regional opera and oratorio as well as in liturgical music and performed as soloist both at home and abroad, including concert tours of the Caribbean, Italy and two tours of Greece. Orchestral engagements have included the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony working with such noted conductors as Zubin Mehta, Lukas Foss, Robert DeCormier, Abraham Kaplan, Matthew Lazar, Robert Shaw, and Gerard Schwarz. She has recorded for Vox Turnabout, Centaur, Sine Qua Non, Not Nice Music, Book of the Month Records, and for the Western Wind, on The Birthday of the World a set of 2 CD's of High Holy Day music.
Prior to coming to Temple Shalom, Cantor Barr served as Cantor of the Village Temple (URJ) in NYC for three years, Associate Cantor of North Shore Synagogue (URJ) in Syosset, Long Island for six years, Cantor of West End Synagogue, (Reconstructionist), and Beth Shalom, a Post-Denominational congregation, both in Manhattan. She led auxiliary services at Manhattan's Central Synagogue for eight years prior to her ordination in 1996.
Cantor Barr is married to Ed Weissman, an attorney (who also sings bass), and is the proud mother of Sara and Nora Fantry.