January 2006 - טֵבֵת .. שְׁבָט תשס״ו Tevet..Shevat 5766

When I was the rabbi of Congregation Beth David in San Luis Obispo, I was the only rabbi in the county. As a matter of fact I had one colleague one hundred miles away, and then the nearest colleague after that was almost two hundred miles away, both north and south. Being all alone, I decide to get all of the countyÕs rabbis together, and then I elected myself Chief Rabbi of San Luis Obispo County. (Because it was only me voting, there were two votes in favor and only one opposed.)

My only contacts with other rabbis were at the regional PARR (Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, used to be WARR, Western Association, but that became impractical in the 60s) and at the national conventions of the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis). The Jewish community of the county depended upon me for all of the Jewish professional needs, but I had very little support for my Jewish needs.

When I moved to the East Bay, I found a wonderful organization of colleagues, the East Bay Council of Rabbis. The rabbis from every denomination, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Humanist, were all included and participated together. Ever since I arrived nine years ago, once a month I meet with these colleagues. We function more as a havurah, a friendship group, than the regional and national professional groups. We support one another, and they were an integral part (along with the wonderful members of our congregation) in the consolation I needed after my familyÕs tragedies. We discuss our respective responsibilities within our own communities and our collective concerns in the greater community. Our community has become a model for rabbinic associations all over the country.

Since I found such personal fulfillment in the East Bay Council of Rabbis, I soon became an officer and not too long after I was elected to two year long terms as the president of the council. I felt that this was a great honor even if I knew that none of us really had the time to chair the council, so I was probably elected by default. However I was chosen, I cherished my time with my colleagues and still consider their trust in my leadership to be a very great honor.

A couple of years have passed since I chaired the East Bay Council, and now I have been tapped to serve for two years as the president of the Northern California Board of Rabbis. I now chair the meetings for one hundred and seventeen colleagues. Sixty-five are congregational rabbis, forty serve other institutions and twelve are retired. Thirty-four of these rabbis live and/or work in San Francisco. Thirty-nine more live on the Peninsula or Marin County. The rest of us, forty-four, live and work throughout the rest of Northern California, mostly in the East Bay and South Bay.

It is very unusual for an East Bay rabbi to serve as the president of the Northern California Board of Rabbis, but I think that I was given this honor so that some of the programs and more importantly, some of the collegiality of the East Bay Council can be emulated by the Board of Rabbis. I also hope to bring some more study and professional development programming to my colleagues. Most importantly, I see my mandate (and I really had a mandate receiving a unanimous vote by acclamation) as to unite the third of the rabbis who live in San Francisco with the rest of the Northern California rabbinic community.

It has been a long way from Chief Rabbi of San Luis Obispo County to Chief Rabbi of Northern California. (It was noted that I am probably sufficiently schizophrenic to be both Ashkenazi and Sefardic chief rabbis at the same time.) Anyway, donÕt congratulate me, just wish me luck! Thanks.

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D., D.D.

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