Assistant Rabbis Aaron Weininger and Adam Titcher join Senior Rabbi Harold Kravitz to serve the Minnetonka shul
By SHEREE R. CURRY
Rabbi Aaron Weininger joined Adath Jeshurun Congregation in July as Assistant Rabbi, Berman Family Chair in Jewish Learning, while Assistant Rabbi Adam Titcher shifted to the pulpit from his role as Director of Jewish Learning.
“We are truly blessed at Adath Jeshurun to have two wonderfully talented young rabbis in Rabbi Titcher and Rabbi Weininger,” says Senior Rabbi Harold Kravitz, who just celebrated a milestone 25 years of rabbinic service with the congregation. “Each of them relates beautifully to people of all ages.”
While Rabbis Titcher and Weininger will both do programming and outreach to the 20s and 30s crowd, and provide other rabbinic duties, their roles also differ.
As Berman Family Chair in Jewish Learning, Rabbi Weininger will be playing a lead role in supporting Adath’s activities in the area of Jewish life and learning. This includes overseeing religious education for the primary and secondary school-age children in programs such as Adath’s B’Yachad programming for kindergarten through second graders, and the Shabbat Morning Program, an educational cornerstone for those preparing to become Bar/Bat Mitzva.
“I feel fortunate to be part of the rabbinic team of Adath and the warmth of the Adath community,” says Rabbi Weininger. “My position here enables me to integrate my passions for lifelong learning, pastoral care, and engagement.”
Adath Jeshurun Congregation’s rabbinic team (l to r): Assistant Rabbi Aaron Weininger, Senior Rabbi Harold Kravitz and Assistant Rabbi Adam Titcher. (Photo: Lee Prohofsky)
Rabbi Weininger received ordination and a master’s degree in Hebrew letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2012, where he was a Schusterman Rabbinic Fellow. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Jewish Near Eastern studies and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.
He says that Adath was his first choice in part because of the mentorship of Rabbi Kravitz, whom he calls “a rabbi’s rabbi.” And Rabbi Weininger has been on the go since his July arrival.
“I spent my first morning at a baby naming, welcoming a beautiful baby girl into our covenant,” he says. “The next day I was heading across the border to Wisconsin to visit our kids and teach at Ramah and Herzl camps.”
Rabbi Titcher, a native of Los Angeles who joined Adath in 2011, remembers fondly his decision to move to Adath with his wife, Galia, and daughter, Ofek.
“When I interviewed I felt many positive vibes about the people involved, and the community seemed dedicated to living Judaism consistently and with deep kavanna (intention),” Rabbi Titcher says. “I knew it was a shiduch (match) and could not resist the opportunity, even if it meant spending five months of the year under snow!”
He adds, “Rabbi Kravitz had a tremendous influence in my moving here with my family. Adath has a great history of rabbinic leadership and I knew I would be learning from one of the Conservative Movement’s finest.”
Rabbi Titcher, who graduated with a bachelor’s in English literature from UCLA and received his ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in his native Los Angeles, has spent a decade working with youth and adults at Camp Ramah in California, as well as in Israel and Europe with USY Pilgrimage. He has taught at religious schools and synagogues in the greater Los Angeles area.
“Much of my education and experience involved working with and teaching children with special needs,” he says. “When I arrived at Adath I made it some the focus of the work I did, whether it was participating and helping direct the committee with Jewish Disability Awareness Month, or incorporating a tzedaka project for the Shabbat Morning Program that would help the Masorti Movement’s Bar and Bat Mitzva program for children with special needs. I have a passion to increase awareness about inclusion in our community.”
Barbara Rubin-Greenberg, the synagogue’s president, says the three rabbis fit well together.
“Our congregation is grateful for the incredible leadership this dynamic team of rabbis brings to our community,” she says. “I think that our community will find that all three rabbis complement each other extraordinarily well in their skills, leadership styles and their roles.”
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Sheree R. Curry is an award-winning journalist whose writings have been in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Jerusalem Post and People magazine. She is a member of Adath Jeshurun Congregation and coordinates marketing and communications for the synagogue.
(American Jewish World, 8.31.12)
