New rabbi for oldest shul

Harry Brechner is welcomed by Victoria's Conservative synagogue, Emanu-El.

PAT JOHNSON REPORTER

It seemed like a family reunion at Victoria's Temple Emanu-El Sunday as the Conservative synagogue welcomed its new rabbi and his family. Rabbi Harry Brechner's installation ceremony on the rainy afternoon brought a full house of congregants and representatives from across the Jewish religious spectrum, as well as greetings from political leaders and Christian representatives. Among the crowd at the installation were long-time members of the close-knit Victoria Jewish community, the city's mayor, a local member of the legislature, a Reform rabbi, an Orthodox rabbi and Anglican and Catholic representatives.

The atmosphere was emotional and enthusiastic as speaker after speaker spoke of the warmth already demonstrated by the new rabbi and his family, who have been in the community for two months, through the High Holy Days and, as the rabbi's wife, RaeAnn, said, almost every lifecycle event possible.

The rabbi moved to Victoria with his wife and their two children, Adar, 6, and David, 3. Both the rabbi and his wife said the move felt like coming home. They have been welcomed with help moving in, invitations to dinner, unexpected gifts and immediate friendship.

"Moving to Victoria feels natural to our whole family," RaeAnn Brechner told the congregation during the installation ceremony. "Thank you all. It feels very right."

The rabbi spoke of how, on his first Shabbat off, the family went to Vancouver, but he couldn't leave without the community directory, because he felt the need to stay in touch with his congregants even during his brief absence.

"Not that I'm a control freak," he joked. "It's just that I received so much care and love from you that care and love was coming back.... There's just such tremendous chesed, such tremendous lovingkindness, in this congregation."

The ceremony was guided by Dr. Holly Devor, past president of the congregation, and included a moving musical offering by Anne Elliott- Goldschmid on violin and Bruce Vogt on piano, performing "Nigun from Baal Shem" by Ernest Bloch. Vocalist Rob Menes performed "Shalom Rav" by Jeff Klepper.

Rabbi Charles Feinberg of Vancouver's Beth Israel synagogue offered words of advice for both rabbi and congregation to be patient with one another and not to rush to criticism when they disagree. Irv Nitkin, president of the Pacific Northwest region of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, welcomed the Brechners to the region.

Two old friends of the rabbi extolled his virtues to the overflow crowd, many of whom stood at the back or climbed the stairs to the gallery of the 140-year-old shul. Rabbi Yonatan Gordis, an Orthodox rabbi who recently moved to Vancouver from Israel, and Rabbi Dan Bridge, executive director of Hillel at the University of Washington, expressed their respect and admiration for their friend.

The inclusiveness of the ceremony seemed indicative of Brechner's intentions for his time in Victoria. It was just days after he arrived in the capital city that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred.

"I knew from my own experience, living a good part of my life in Israel, that people need to come together in a meaningful way after a really tragic event," Brechner told the Bulletin. He called Christian and Muslim clergy and organized an interfaith service for peace and healing. The spiritual leaders are now organizing regular meetings to study their respective religious texts, a process they hope to later open up to lay participants.

Brechner is originally from Long Island, N.Y. He studied education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and finished his degree at the University of Washington, in Seattle. While in the Northwest, he taught children and was director of Camp Solomon Schechter. He went on to rabbinical studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and continued at the Jewish Theological Seminary, dividing his time between the United States and Israel, where he served as a combat medic in the Israel Defence Forces. He was ordained in 1998 and his latest posting was as an administrator of three Jewish schools in New Orleans. This is his first pulpit posting.

Coming to Victoria, Brechner continues a long historical line that began in the 1850s in Victoria.

Dr. Louis Sutker, gabbai of the congregation, gave a brief history of the shul. Drawn by the quest for gold, fortune-seekers turned Victoria into a boomtown 140-odd years ago. Among the throngs that passed through or set up provisioning outfits were a number of Jews, about 200 of which were permanent residents of the city. In 1860, they sanctified the first Jewish cemetery and, within five years, had built the very synagogue that welcomed Brechner.

"That's a lot better than how we're doing in trying to get an addition built," quipped Sutker.

The building was built in the Romanesque revival style for a total cost of $9,000. It remains the oldest shul in continuous use in Canada and one of the oldest religious buildings in the region. At the end of the installation ceremony, Brechner was mobbed by well-wishers, among them Bernice Levitz Packford, a longtime congregation member who had nothing but kind words for the young spiritual leader.

"He's fulfilling all of our expectations - and when you say that about a rabbi of a congregation, it's unusual," she noted. The synagogue has been without a permanent rabbi since Rabbi Victor Reinstein left in 1996.

"We knew we were going to be very careful in picking a successor to Victor Reinstein and his wife," said Packford. Yet, when they found the right rabbi, it was immediate and nearly unanimous. Brechner visited the congregation for an intense weekend of services and personal meetings.

"About two weeks later, we held a congregation meeting," she said. "There were only two dissenting votes. We had over 100 people here. Isn't that unheard of in picking a rabbi?"

^TOP