rabbinic transitions

[cellio]

An observation from perhaps too little data (so further data welcome): if a rabbi leaves his congregation and is seeking other employment, then it seems that one of the following things is true: (1) his next job is not with a congregation; (2) he's helping to found a new congregation; (3) he's leaving town. It appears that trying to move to another established congregation in the same city is awkward in several ways and thus rarely done.

Just something for someone thinking about the rabbinate to keep in mind: congregational life implies nomadic life.

Comments

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

are you sure it implies nomadic life? In my experience, once a rabbi finds a congregation, they tend to stay there for a long time.

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

Let's use TBT, home of the revolving door rabbis, as an example. This is all from memory. They had many more transitions, but they've taken the information I had up off their webpages.

Rabbi Jerry Fisher left, went to start another congregation in the valley.

Rabbi Harry Essrig left, became more of a fill-in rabbi and author.

Rabbi E. Robert Kraus left, moved to Northern California, working as a chaplin in the prison system.

Rabbi Arnold Stiebel left, opened a divorce mediation service.

Rabbi Sheryl Nosan-Blank left, went to a congregation in Sacramento.

These do fit all your examples, but I also know that some of these interviewed for other positions locally. There is also the difference, I think between a Rabbi that leaves voluntarily and one that is fired. One that is fired might be more likely to stay in the same city.

Another factor might be the size of the city. In the greater metropolitan Los Angeles area, there are sufficient congregations that moving within the city is like leaving town; this isn't true in smaller cities.

not necessarily nomadic

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Well, let's see. Before our congregation had Rabbi Laurie Rice, we had Rabbi Drora Setel.

Rabbi Setel, iirc, was rabbi part-time to 2 different small congregations (ours & another). She left our congregation (on good terms) to devote extra attention to some family issues (I believe her mother was very ill) around the time our congregation decided we wanted a full-time rabbi, and that's when we found Rabbi Rice. But Rabbi Setel still stayed in the Seattle area with her other congregation (though I note they have a different rabbi now). I think she eventually moved to Buffalo because she has family there.