Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, will speak at services beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at Congregation B’nai Israel in Fayetteville.
“We hope that many of our friends in the south metro Atlanta area will be able to join us for this event, and to hear this dynamic and visionary leader in American Judaism,” said Mike Edison, congregational president. “It is truly an honor to have him.”
Rabbi Louis Feldstein and Susan Burden, cantorial soloist, who regularly officiate at B’nai Israel, will lead the Shabbat (Sabbath) service on Friday evening. Jacobs will deliver the sermon.
Accompanying Jacobs for the visit will be Jane Aronoff of Marietta, chair of the URJ’s south district executive committee. The synagogue is on Ga. Highway 54, east of downtown Fayetteville, near the intersection with Corinth Road.
The Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) is an organization that connects nearly 900 Reform Jewish communities in North America, including Congregation B’nai Israel. It provides training, consultation, and networking to help member congregations enhance their capacity to build and expand community, deepen Jewish learning, energize worship, invigorate spirituality, pursue social justice and develop leadership.
Jacobs was elected URJ’s president last June. Before his election he spent 20 years as rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, N.Y. During his tenure, he reshaped communal worship, transformed the congregation’s educational program, and strengthened the synagogue’s commitment to vibrancy and inclusion. Before beginning his service in Scarsdale, Jacobs served the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, where he founded and codirected the first synagogue-based homeless shelter in New York City.
Jacobs was part of a delegation that assessed disaster response following Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010. He also observed the plight of Darfur refugees as part of an international humanitarian mission to the Chad-Darfur border area in 2005, and in 2009, participated in an annual conference of Muslim and Christian leaders designed to build understanding between the West and the Muslim world.
Jacobs and his wife, Susan, live in Scarsdale and have three children.
