From The Jewish Daily Forward
Again, Mazal Tov to the Rabbi, the Board, and the Congregation alike!
(Haaretz) What has made some people nervous about Angela Buchdahl becoming the senior rabbi at Central Synagogue one of the two largest Reform synagogues in New York and one of the biggest in the United States is not that shes the first Asian-American rabbi. Its not that shes a woman or, at 41, so young to lead a congregation whose membership will soon number 2,400 families. Its not that shes been working primarily as a cantor for most of her career. Its not even that shes the mother of three young children, though that has given some in her congregation pause, Buchdahl said. No, its because she talks about God.
We become very nervous talking about God in the Jewish community, Buchdahl tells Haaretz. I made people on the search committee a little nervous about it.
God is at the center of Buchdahls life. Born in South Korea and descended from a Korean king, she has prayed every night since she was a young girl in Tacoma, Washington, with a Korean-Buddhist mother and American-Jewish father. And in her new role at Central Synagogue, she is trying to put God at the center as well.
She has given a lot of thought as to where God fits into the Jewish vocabulary and how tricky that is for many of us, says Abigail Pogrebin, a writer and vice president at Central Synagogue, and member of the rabbinic search committee. In her interview with the committee, she went there in a way that I often find leaders dont, adds Pogrebin.
Buchdahl was nominated by the synagogues board in December and approved unanimously by the congregants on January 7. At the synagogue where she has worked as senior cantor since 2006, Buchdahl will take over as senior rabbi on June 1, following the retirement of Rabbi Peter Rubenstein.