Temple Emanu-El to Formally Welcome Rabbi

Temple Beth-El of East Meadow will formally welcome Rabbi Daniel Bar-Nahum during an installation ceremony Friday. A welcome dinner will precede the ceremony.

Rabbi Bar-Nahum has served at the temple for a year already but said the occasion is an opportunity for the congregation to mark the transition.

Rabbi Albert J. Lowenberg served the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El since 1990 and has been awarded Rabbi Emeritus status for his devoted service for the past 23 years.

"It's an opportunity to acknowledge that transition is important for any community," he said. "I'm excited for it. It's a chance for us to talk a little bit about the vision for the congregation moving forward and what the role of a rabbi in the community should be."

Ordained in 2012 by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Bar-Nahum completed a rabbinic thesis on Talmudic notions of action, intention and voice. He earned a Masters of Arts in Hebrew literature from HUC-JIR in 2011.

He served pulpits in Kinston, NC; Wayland, MA; and Teaneck, NJ while in rabbinical school and was a rabbinic intern in Teaneck for three years, according to his biography.

Rabbi Bar-Nahum believes in the value of "teaching and learning as a community."

"The sages teach us that the wise person is the one who learns from all others. I carry this axiom with me every day and it guides me in my work helping to facilitate both interpersonal relationships and relationships between people and the Divine," he said.

The welcome dinner begins at 6:30 p.m.; $18 for adults and $9 for children. The formal installation begins at 8 p.m. Special Oneg to follow.

Temple Beth-El of East Meadow is located at 123 Merrick Avenue in East Meadow.