Meet Congregation Etz Chaim’s new leader Rabbi Caminker has found his perfect fit at gay synagogue By ANDREA FREYGANG Staff Writer

Congregation Etz Chaim in Wilton Manors found its spiritual leader after looking at 12 rabbis over a two-year period. The search started in June 2003 as Dr. Murray Lichenstein and Cantor Michael Greenspan, working closely with the strong lay leadership, led every service at the gay synagogue. The search was put on hold in May 2004 while the temple renovated its new space, and resumed last August when Lyn Saberg took over as chair of the rabbi search committee. In November, the 11-member committee received Rabbi Harold Caminker’s resume. After a series of phone interviews, Saberg recommended bringing Caminker in front of the temple board and search committee in February. “We have a very eclectic congregation – Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstruc-tionists – it’s very diverse and we needed someone that answered all their needs,” says Saberg, adding that all the rabbis were qualified, but that she felt the board should act quickly because someone of Caminker’s caliber doesn’t come along very often. “He immediately struck me as a very determined man who loved the Jewish religion, the Jewish people and was very involved in the community,” she continues. “He was an out gay rabbi, a devoted father and it became evident that he was a very intelligent, articulate man seeking a gay congregation so that his life and religion could be one.” Caminker, who grew up in Detroit within a Reform Jewish temple, agreed with Saberg’s statement when TWN caught up with him between appointments with his congregants and spending time with his youngest daughter. He says that from early on he knew he was different from the other boys, and that he realized his attraction to the same gender around the age of 9. While this discovery was exciting for him, it was also frightening because there was no one he could talk with.

“I remember hearing Leviticus 18 (18:22 – Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination.) long before I was openly gay, and it’s still one of the things in the Torah that confuses and angers me because I wonder how we can follow such teachings that are prejudicial and hateful,” Caminker says. As a Reform Jew, he says he doesn’t believe God wrote the Torah, but that it was created by humans, albeit well-intentioned ones. “What might have been right 3,500 years ago is not right today and every Jew has a personal struggle with Leviticus 18,” he adds, before segueing into the story of his rabbinical studies. Caminker first heard his calling to become a rabbi as an undergrad at Michigan State University; he did a study program in London and hitchhiked to Austria, Switzerland and Germany. “I visited Dachau, the first concentration camp during the Nazi establishment, and … the non-Jews were treating it as a historical tour site – eating hot dogs, buying souvenirs – and as a Jew I was grieving,” he says. Soon after, he went to the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where he met the first woman rabbi and was very impressed with the students. His fate was sealed. Caminker’s first year of studies was in Jerusalem, beginning work toward his new life goal to learn all the tools he needed for the profession. In 1978, he was ordained, but he remained in the closet because the president of the college said he would never ordain a gay rabbi. Caminker also met the woman he eventually married and had three “beautiful daughters who are an important part” of his life. Staff photo by Andrea Freygang A NEW CHAPTER: Lyn Saberg, right, who chaired Congregation Etz Chaim’s rabbi search committee, with their new rabbi, Harold Caminker, at the gay synagogue.

It wasn’t until the mid ’90s – after 10 years in a suburban Chicago temple, eight years in San Fernando Valley and coming out privately in Shreveport, La. – that he finally came out publicly in Dallas. After his transitional years in Dallas, he went to Riverside, Calif., as an openly gay rabbi. “It was very important to be open, especially after attending two weeklong retreats for interfaith gay clergy, and especially after seeing Christian colleagues living with intense suffering and personal torment,” Caminker says. “I wished they could all join me in Reform Judaism where they could be accepted regardless of orientation. “Riverside was difficult at moments because it was very conservative politically and culturally, but I had to be out because I won’t have it any other way now. Even when I gave sermons on Jonathan and David or Ruth and Naomi possibly being gay, they were offended that I even raised the possibility.” After he and the Riverside board mutually decided to part ways, Caminker went searching for his new home, and he says he finally found it. “I feel fortunate because there aren’t many gay synagogues. It satisfies a mutual need for a rabbi and congregation,” he says. “People can look for a lifetime and never find this. I’m particularly blessed that my seeking has finally born fruit. “The congregation has a strong lay leadership, and I hope to bring a greater strength at Etz Chaim where there’s a high level of participation.” Saberg says that participation has risen dramatically since Caminker joined them July 1, and that he has a gift for building relationships between the congregation and the community. “I haven’t been this spiritually happy in many years, and he’s just a phenomenal individual,” she says. “Our spiritual leader has arrived.” Meet Congregation Etz Chaim’s new spiritual leader from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Aug. 21 during their second annual open house reception, at 1881 N.E. 26th St., Wilton Manors. The cantorial soloist and education director as well as members of the Men’s Club and Sisterhood will be present. Admission is free and refreshments will be served. Shabbat Services take place every Friday at 8:30 p.m. and CEC membership is not required. High Holy Days services start Oct. 3 at Soref JCC, 6501 W. Sunrise Blvd., Plantation.  For more information, visit etz-chaim.com or call (954) 564-9232.

RABBI IS HOME AT LAST LEADER AND CONGREGATION ETZ CHAIM FIND THE PERFECT FIT.; [West Broward Edition]

Lisa Bolivar Special Correspondent. South Florida Sun - Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Jul 22, 2005. pg. 3

 

(Copyright 2005 by the Sun-Sentinel)   It may have taken congregation Etz Chaim nine months to find a suitable rabbi, but it has taken a lifetime for their new rabbi to find them.  Rabbi Harold F. Caminker officially took his place on the pulpit July 1 to the delight of the Wilton Manors congregation.  He's a wonderful, exhilarating speaker and he knows what life is about," said Norman Schrier of Fort Lauderdale, who was among the more than 90 people who gathered to hear Caminker's first Shabbat service as the synagogue's rabbi.  Caminker joins Etz Chaim almost nine months after its last rabbi stepped down.  Caminker, 55, is no stranger to the pulpit. He joins Etz Chaim from a Conservative congregation in Riverside, Calif., but describes himself as something other than Conservative. "First of all I am a Reform rabbi, I am a Reform Jew, and the difference between liberal and traditional Jews is who wrote the Torah," he said. "I don't believe God wrote every word in the Torah; Reform Jews believe that the Torah was written by well-intentioned human beings "Times have changed quite a bit in the last 3,500 years, since the Torah was written," he said.   Marge Congress, who now lives in Hollywood, is past president of the Riverside congregation that Caminker formerly served. She said she's glad to see him in South Florida. "He's just a really outstanding man in the social realm," Congress said. "His services are so personal, it's like he's known you forever."  Caminker, who has been openly gay for about a decade, said that finding a place among one of the country's oldest gay Jewish synagogues is a dream come true. Etz Chaim, in its 32nd year, is the second oldest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender synagogue in the country. New York's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, founded in 1973, is the oldest. "Etz Chaim has a primary outreach to the GLBT community, and I'm a gay man, I've been out about 10 years," Caminker said. "I've been looking for a greater sense of harmony in my personal and professional life; I want all the pieces of my life to come together. "That means my religion and my sexual and my professional identities," he said in a phone interview. "I feel for the first time in my life, that's what's now begun, and that's a pretty heady feeling, it's exhilarating, it's liberating."  Caminker first thought about a career in law and politics, but in 1971 he experienced a life-changing event that "caused me to look inward," he said.  "I filled out forms to become a conscientious objector [to the Vietnam War], and on the advice of my rabbi at the time, I did not submit them because I had a student deferment," Caminker recalled. "But he said if I ever needed to submit those forms, he'd back me up."  That was the summer before Caminker entered Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and a time when he visited Europe through a program at Michigan State University, an event that turned him away from law and politics.  "One of the places I visited was Germany and the first concentration camp at Dachau, and that was the first place, if I ever had a calling, that was it," he said.  What ignited Caminker's instincts to help heal his people was that the "world is a very broken place, and this may be one way for me to be able to fix the world, or to help repair the world in a more meaningful way than I could as a lawyer or a politician."  Caminker said it was the experience at Dachau, where so many of his people had suffered horrors at this Nazi death camp, that he felt a rift with gentiles.  "I felt closer to Jewish people and a more distant tie from the Europeans who were visiting the concentration camp, who were treating it as a historical tourist site," he said. "They were buying hot dogs and souvenirs while I was crying."  So Caminker set out to become a rabbi. He earned his doctorate of divinity from Hebrew Union College and was ordained in 1978 in Cincinnati, where he began practicing tikkun olam, or healing the world.  Healing is what Caminker is all about. Soon after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Caminker, still new at the Riverside congregation, approached the local Islamic Center and invited its imam to Yom Kippur services at the synagogue. What resulted made an impact on Caminker, his synagogue and the Riverside community at large.  Seeds of understanding were sewn between Riverside's Jewish and Muslim communities.  During his first Shabbat service at Etz Chaim, Caminker used the story of Moses to illustrate the importance of being involved in the community. His sermon was met with nods of approval.  After the service, the youngest of Caminker's three daughters (he was married about 18 years before he revealed his sexual preferences) thanked the congregation for hiring her father.  "He can be himself here," she told them.

 

 

Harold F. Caminker, Rabbi Rabbi Harold F. Caminker is currently the rabbi of Riverside Temple Beth El. Some of his achievements are: Summer Intern in Political Science at the University of London in England in 1971 Bachelor of Arts Degreee from Michigan State University in 1972 Lived in Jerusalem during First Year in Israel Program of Hebrew Union College in 1972-73 Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles in 1975 Spent a year as a student rabbi at InterMet in Washington, DC, a unique interfaith seminary program in 1975-76 Ordained as a Rabbi at Hebrew Union College in Cincinatti, Ohio in 1978 Awarded a certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York City in 1984 Prior to coming to Riverside, Rabbi Caminker served Reform congregations in Chicago, the San Fernando Valley and Dallas, Texas Rabbi Caminker has always been an active member of the national and regional chapters of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.  He has served on the Board of Directors of numerous Jewish community organizations including Jewish Family Services, the Jewish Peace Fellowship and the Chicago Board of Rabbis.  He attended a number of international rabbinic missions including United Jewish Appeal Missions to Poland, Turkey, Egypt and Israel, as well as State of Israel Bonds Mission to Israel.   Rabbi Caminker has always been active in interfaith community work.  He led the first Jewish/Christian/Muslim Passover Seder at the University of Chicago.  He also led an Interfaith Symposium with Protestant and Catholic clergy in Chicago.  Currently he is a member of the Riverside Interfaith Fellowship.  In September 2001, he invited Dr. Mustafa Kuko to offer a prayer for peace during Yom Kippur Eve worship at Riverside Temple Beth El. He was a featured speaker for the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods' convention. He has served on Rabbinic Faculty at numerous Union of American Hebrew Congregations summer camps for Jewish children including Camp Swig in Saratoga, California. Rabbi Caminker was Conference Rabbi at the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations in Phoenix, Arizona (1998) and New Jersey (2000). He is the proud father of three daughters; Rachel, 18, Sarah, 16 and Leah, 12. Rabbi Caminker was awarded the Best Delegate Trophy at the Greater Detriot Model United Nations Conference in 1968.  Over 700 high school age delegates were participants in a 6 month process culminating in the conference.

--Associated Press

Police say stabbing outside bar was a hate crime attack Riverside, Calif.--Hundreds attended an outdoor memorial June 9 for a 40-year-old gay man slain in what police believe was a hate crime. Rabbi Harold Caminker of Temple Beth El urged about 400 people not to let the attack of Jeffery Owens go unnoticed. "We will not be silent," Caminker chanted several times with the crowd. Owens and a friend were attacked by four to six men with shaved heads about midnight June 5 in the parking lot behind the Menagerie, a mixed-crowd bar popular with gay men. The friend is recovering from knife wounds. The memorial was held in the same lot where the crime occurred. Police Chief Russ Leach said he hoped to announce new developments in the case in the coming days. Mayor Ron Loveridge, one of several city leaders to attend, offered his condolences to Owens’ family and friends. Owens’ partner, Jeff Holland, and Owens’ brother, Brent, attended the memorial, where police officers handed out leaflets describing the assault and composite sketches of one of the attackers. The leaflets said police were looking for a black Chevrolet pickup with an extended cab. Holland, who witnessed the attack, said he heard an attacker say: ‘You want some trouble . . . fag, here it is." A group of four to six men confronted Owens and his friend, 48-year-old Michael Bussee, outside the nightclub, where they had gone to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Bussee, a marriage and family therapist, said he and other friends were standing near their van when a man ran up and hit him in the jaw. Bussee fell into the van and then felt what he thought was a punch to the back. "I had no idea I had been stabbed," he said. Owens yelled at the attacker, who turned on him. Authorities said he was stabbed at least four times. "I’m really convinced that he was standing up for me," Bussee said. "He was protecting me." Owens died in hospital. Bussee was treated and released. --Associated Press

 

Passover has always been a festive yet poignant celebration for Peg McCay, who has observed the week-long holiday with friends since leaving New York several decades ago. The Redlands woman had looked forward to the start of today's Passover but given it little thought. This year, she is again dining at a friend's home for the holiday's first night. That meant she did not have to cook or clean her home, both of which are extensive tasks in keeping with the Jewish faith. Instead, she has been busy teaching at Moore Middle School and studying for evening classes toward a graduate degree. McCay, who is divorced, fills every free moment channel-surfing through television newscasts in hopes of catching a glimpse of her youngest son. Twice, she has seen John, who serves in the Army and has been stationed in Baghdad recently. "The holiday will be nice because I won't be able to sit there and think about the war," McCay said. "You get into the stories. You think about the past. You're not thinking about your day at work." She went on to address the importance of the holiday to Jews, how it honors their ancestors' exodus from slavery in Egypt, and how this year's Passover has taken on particular relevance because of the war with Iraq. She discussed her affection for tonight's Seder, a ritualistic meal during which stories from ancient times are retold and family is celebrated. McCay paused. She began to weep. "I feel bad that John won't have an opportunity to have gefilte fish or take part in the rituals," McCay said between sobs. "Actually, I hadn't thought about this. When I'm sitting there doing it, I'll probably feel really bad." Over in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, John McCay won't be celebrating Passover, or Pesach as it's called in Hebrew, McCay said. It's not safe to commemorate Jewish holidays on Arab soil, his mother said. McCay's other son, Jim, won't be home this year, either. He's in military intelligence with the Army, and she expects he will soon be deployed from his base at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. "Unfortunately, this probably won't be the last time we're not all together," McCay said. War with Iraq and unrest in the Middle East makes this year's Passover particularly powerful for Jews, said Rabbi Jordan S. Ofseyer of Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs. Centuries ago, Israelis fled their enslavement by Egypt's pharaoh, whose dictator-style leadership compares with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Ofseyer said. Watching Iraqis dancing in the streets evokes a sensation of freedom that is the essence of Passover, he said. "That resonates for us in a very special way," Ofseyer said. Those in the Jewish faith did not publicly celebrate the fall of Baghdad because of another Jewish story, which at its essence is a lesson that in Hebrew is called a midrash. God told Israelites not to rejoice when the parted Red Sea crashed together to drown the Egyptians, because "your enemies are still my children," explained Rabbi Harold Caminker of Temple Beth El in Riverside. "This wasn't a Jewish war," Caminker said of war with Iraq. "But Israel is one of the chief beneficiaries of the removal of this tyrant from power." Caminker called McCay's son a hero. "Her son has brought freedom to the enslaved," Caminker said. "What greater meaning of Pesach can there ever be?" McCay says she is proud of her son, proud of both her boys. And in searching for positives in the sadness of them being gone, she has found something that brings some relief. "It will mean a lot more after, because we'll look back and remember that was the Pesach they weren't there," McCay said.