Dear Member:
After reviewing close to 30 resumes of interested candidates, and interviewing many qualified rabbis, the Rabbinical Search Committee has invited Rabbi David Fine to spend Shabbat at the Young Israel of Stamford on January 25-26, as part of our first praba weekend.
Rabbi Fine is currently the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner in Overland Park, KS, where he has served for the past five years. Before that, he was the Senior Rabbi at the Lake Park Synagogue in Milwaukee, WI, for five years.
Rabbi Fine attended Yeshivat Hamivtar, in Israel, where he received his semicha from Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He is an RCA member and an associate member of the Young Israel Council of Rabbis.
Rabbi Fine received his BA from Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. He volunteered for the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry while in college, and later was a consultant to AIPAC.
He has also taught Talmud and Tanach to junior high school students while he was a rabbi in the Midwest.
His wife, Julie, has a doctorate in psychology and works in the mental health field. The Fines have four boys, ranging in age from 3 to 9 years old.
A few important procedural notes about the praba weekend:
- On Friday night at 8:45PM, our teens will have an oneg at the home of the Indyks on 40 Boxwood. Rabbi Fine will speak to our teens at this time.
- We will be starting Shacharit services early at 8:30AM on Shabbat morning. Please make an extra effort to arrive to shul on time.
- The Rabbi's sermon will be delivered after mussaf.
- We will have a Q+A session with Rabbi Fine immediately after services and before Kiddush. The first portion of the Q+A will be devoted to questions prepared by the Search Committee and asked by a moderator. The final portion of the Q+A session will be open to individual questions from our members. We will attempt to get to as many questions from members as our time will allow. If you do not have an opportunity to ask your question in the public session, you can always ask the rabbi your question at Kiddush or at another time during the weekend.
- Rabbi Fine will give a shiur at 3:30PM in the shul. Mincha will be at 4:30PM, followed by Shalosh Seudot, at which time Rabbi Fine will give a short dvar torah.
On Shabbat, February 1-2, we will be having a second praba with Rabbi Yaakov Jaffe. More information about Rabbi Jaffe will be forthcoming in a separate email. This is the start of possibly three or even four praba weekends. There are other candidates who have been and will be interviewed who may be invited for a coming Shabbat. A reminder: Not only is the Rabbi being evaluated by the membership during the praba weekend, but the members are being evaluated by the Rabbi. Let's put our best foot forward and make a great impression on the prospective Rabbis who are interviewing for the job as we begin the process of inviting candidates to our shul.
If you have any questions about this first praba weekend, or about the search process in general, feel free to contact me at mike38ct@aol.com or at 327-1672.
I look forward to seeing you all next Shabbat!
Sincerely,
Michael Feldstein
Search Committee Chairperson
