The Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation Welcomes Laurie Gold As Its New Rabbi - Come Meet Rabbi Gold Labor Day September 4 At Good Shepherd Plaza Picnic Tables For Snacks, Beverages & Refreshments

The Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation (RIJC) welcomes Laurie Gold as its new Rabbi. According to the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation: 

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Welcome to the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation !

We are thrilled to welcome our new Rabbi, Laurie Gold who, as of August 1st, is “up and running” and already preparing for her new year, and the New Year, with us.

The RIJC has been a significant part of the greater Roosevelt Island community for over 45 years. We have had many “homes” and several Rabbis in that time, as well as served a wide variety of families, friends, neighbors and members, donors and supporters. People of all ages and backgrounds worship with us, celebrate holidays and special events together, volunteer to help our organization and engage the community in practical and meaningful ways.

We are an active, liberal, egalitarian congregation, conservative yet open to new ideas and to better involving our Island’s residents....

I interviewed Rabbi Gold last week.

Rabbi Gold told me:

My whole life I wanted to become a rabbi but I got sidetracked. I was a lawyer for 25 years which wasn't a terrible life. I didn't mind it but being a rabbi is so much more wonderful. I got a second chance so I'm very grateful that I got to be a rabbi. I wanted to be able to pass on my love of Judaism, my love of Torah, my love of Talmud, my love of Jewish ideas and Jewish values to other people. 

Being a rabbi for this particular community of sweet, welcoming and down to earth people is a dream come true. It's a real honor to work with RIJC President Nina Lublin and to work with other people at the temple and I'm  looking forward to to getting to know more people and having them get to know me so it's really thrilling to be here.

I asked Rabbi Gold of future plans for RIJC:

I want to bring new ideas. 

I love to teach. I want to teach courses on the prophets and happiness and Talmud and maybe some comparative religion and anything that people are interested in. One of the things that I've done, I've taught at Queensborough Community College and other places, and very often I ask the students what they want to learn about and then a couple of weeks later I present a lesson on that. I love to learn and I'm open to whatever people want to learn about.

One thing that I've been doing successfully at my prior positions was a walk and talk where we take walks in nature. There's certainly beautiful places here to walk and talk to each other and make connections. Even before Covid, very often we just lack connections. Relatives are scattered all over the country, friends all over the country so this is a good opportunity to make new friends. I always talk about my temple family and RIJC is already feeling like my temple family. 

I'd also like to work with some yoga teachers and do Jewish yoga which I've done in the past and it's a lot of fun. We do some prayers and meditation. I've been practicing yoga for about 30 years and I think it makes me the calm person I am. I'm not calm all the time. I was in Midtown traffic the other day and I was not very calm but 95% of the time I'm calm and I think it's because of my yoga and meditation practice so I'd like to pass that on to other people.

 I'm very excited to come here and I'm just delighted so far.

According to Rabbi Gold's biography:

Rabbi Gold received her rabbinic ordination from The Academy for Jewish Religion. Before becoming a rabbi, she worked as a trial attorney. Rabbi Gold earned a JD from Hofstra Law School and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. She has been the rabbi of congregations in Brewster, NY and Danbury, CT. She also served as rabbi at several nursing homes and cruise-lines.

Rabbi Gold and her wife Nancy like travelling and spending time at their local Jewish Community Center, where they swim and attend lectures. They also enjoy reading and practicing meditation and yoga.

Rabbi Gold is non-judgmental and meets people where they are. She is flexible, approachable and down-to-earth. Rabbi Gold looks forward to getting to know the members of her new Temple Family, Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation, as well as other people on the Island.

 The RIJC adds:

MEET & WELCOME RABBI GOLD.

Please join us this coming Monday, September 4th, Labor Day, at 5:00 pm, at the Benches & Picnic Tables by Good Shepherd Chapel. Snacks, Beverages, Light refreshments will provided as we extend our Roosevelt Island hospitality to our new Rabbi. 

More information about RIJC, including plans for the upcoming High Holidays and Hebrew school, available at the RIJC website.