by Rabbi Robert Pilavin
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
Congregation Sons of Israel of Manalapan, New Jersey, under the leadership of Morashah rabbi Robert Pilavin underwent a process of strategic planning that led to the congregation’s decision to re-install a mehitzah in order to attract Orthodox families, as reported by the Jewish Link.
One of the best ways you can gauge the dedication of communal leaders is to see if they’d work contrary to their own preferences for the betterment of their organizations, and would inspire others to do so.
By that standard, the leaders of Congregation Sons of Israel in Manalapan have demonstrated conclusively that their passion for the preservation of their shul overrules their own personal choices.
Three long-term members and leaders of the synagogue—Bonnie Leff, chair of the strategic planning committee; Maurice Zagha, immediate past president; and Eli Kramer, a past gabbai and board member who now serves on the strategic planning committee, noted the serious decline in membership in the congregation over the past two decades, from a height of 400 families to currently less than 200 families. They worked together to assess the demographic changes to the area and chart the best options to secure the future of the shul.
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Leff said that Rabbi Pilavin has been a strong supporter of this change in direction. When asked for his view of the shul’s transition, Zagha quoted from a recent dvar Torah by Rabbi Pilavin, who said: “Our shul is going back to its roots, to better serve the community as it stands today.”
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A native Bostonian, Rabbi Robert Pilavin is a 1978 graduate of Brandeis University, having earned his undergraduate degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.
Rabbi Pilavin received his first ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1984, where he also pursued doctoral studies in Jewish liturgy. He received a subsequent ordination in 2004 from the Institute of Traditional Judaism, with semikha conferred upon him by the renowned Talmudic scholar Rav David Weiss Halivni.
Currently rabbi at the Sons of Israel traditional synagogue in Manalapan, NJ, since 2003, Rabbi Pilavin began his career in the pulpit in 1984, serving in Poughkeepsie, NY, and then the Fresh Meadows Jewish Center in Queens, before accepting a position at the Jewish Community Center of Spring Valley, NY, where he presided from 1987-2003.
Rabbi Pilavin has served on the boards of the Jewish Federation of Rockland County, the Rockland Institute for Special Education (Yeshivat Ohr V'Daas), and the UTJ. He has also been a member of the editorial board of the Rockland Jewish Reporter and past president of the Rockland Board of Rabbis. He is currently the president of Morashah, the rabbinic arm of the UTJ.
He and his wife, Maxine, are the parents of three children: Channah, Moshe and Sara.