Rabbi Bruce Adler: Personal History
I was born in Miami, Florida, August 28th, 1950.
I attended elementary, junior high and high school in Miami. I graduated
from Coral Gables Senior High in 1968.
My family was actively involved in Temple Judea, which my grandfather, Charles
Adler, helped found.
I was involved in the Temple's National Federation of Temple Youth Program
(NFTY) as well as the United Synagogue Youth movement (USY) at Temple Zion,
and the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO) which met at Beth David.
My chapter was Shield of David AZA. I was a member from the 9th-12th grades
and served in every office including president. I was also the heartthrob
of the girls' B'nai B'rith group, Taelon. Oh, those days!
After high school I served in the United States Coast Guard.
Around this time, I developed a keen interest in Asian religion, especially
Buddhism. I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted for its
outstanding program in Asian Studies. I studied, among other things, classical
Chinese in order to read Buddhist texts in the original... and modern Japanese,
in order to study the commentaries. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
While in Madison, I helped found "The Chavurah" which was a cooperative
Jewish living center where we experimented with various forms of Shabbat
observance, studied together, cooked together and, in those liberal, free-spirited
days - did many other things together, as well.
Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim was one of my very favorite books at
the time - and it remains so today, in 1998.
In the late 70's, I met Rabbi Israel Shmotkin, a Lubavitcher rabbi from
Milwaukee, who frequently came into Madison. We became close and I often
spent Shabbat and holidays with his family.
As a result of my contact with him and increasing interest in Hasidism,
I attended the Lubavitch Yeshiva in Morristown, New Jersey and then the
Yeshiva Gedola on Miami Beach where Rabbi Leibel Shapiro was the Rosh Yeshiva.
I cut my long hair, let my beard grow long, wore peyes (side-locks) and
dressed in black. I was a Hasid.
As my path continued to evolve and I sought to integrate the different spiritual
influences in my life, I became interested in the ideas and teachings of
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.
Kaplan taught for many years at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York
(for training conservative rabbis) and while it was not his intention to
start a new movement in Jewish life, his disciples felt that his outook
and beliefs were so important and so unique that they did warrant their
own separate vehicle. Through their efforts, Reconstructionism became the
fourth Jewish movement and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC)
became established in the 60's as an independant rabbinical school.
I attended the RRC from 1978-1983. I was ordained. in June, 1983. During
those years, I immensely enjoyed getting to know and studying with Rabbi
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi who is known to many as the grandfather of the
Jewish Renewal Movement. Zalman taught both at the RRC and at Temple University
where I earned my masters degree in Comparative World Religions.
While serving my first congregation, I met my future wife, Donna Greenfield.
I was serving the conservative congregation in Niagara Falls. She was a
rabbinical student on leave from Hebrew Union College serving the reform
congregation in Niagara Falls. There were, and are, two Jewish congregations
in Niagara Falls and, at that time, the religious schools met jointly.
We, of course, wanted Donna to finish her rabbinical studies at HUC and
since Beth Israel in Hamilton, Ohio needed a rabbi and I was offered the
position - we moved to Hamilton in 1984.
I served as rabbi of Beth Israel from 1984-1997. In August of 1998, I became
the first rabbi of the first and only Reconstructionist congregation in
Southwestern Ohio, Congregation B'nai Tikvah.
That's a little piece of my story. Thanks for your interest.
Rabbi Bruce Adler
Congregation B'nai Tikvah
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