Island Park had voted to accept me. But the house that came with the job would not be ready for another month, as there was a tenant renting the place. I pleaded with the officers of the synagogue to be allowed to move into the synagogue building itself, as sleeping on Jay's floor was difficult for the family. They agreed, and provided us with air mattresses. Honestly, I didn't expect the position to last beyond the year in my contract. It seemed an unlikely arrangement; a family of Breslover Hasidim, kids with long pe'ot, a wife modestly dressed with covered hair, coming into a community where no one was actually observant, only a few kept kosher at home, many were, in fact, intermarried. I thought that this would be a relatively brief respite, giving me breathing space to find something else. But I was wrong. The vast majority of the people were friendly and tolerant. Several owned boats, and took my boys fishing. They were crazy about my kids, and showed it. My sermons were well received. My approach was to give them a sense of the reality and presence of G-d, and the place of Torah and Mitzvot in that formula. Previous rabbis had either talked at length about Jewish legends (non threatening) or had sharply rebuked them for being bad Jews. The people appreciated that I was offering hope. Only one family was suspicious of me. They had a daughter who had become Yeshivish Orhtodox and had moved to New Jersey, who assured them that everything I was doing and saying was wrong. She even called me once to scold me. The parents of that woman , although non-observant, would likewise often tell me I was wrong. I had long ago realized the meaning of narrow, one size fits all Lithuanian Yeshiva Judaism, represented by Rabbi ArtScroll, and thought as little of it as it thought of me. But the others were happy. Even Moses had dissenters and detractors, so I am in no position to complain. The position was officially part time. The salary was only $12,000 a year, plus the house to live in. But I was grateful for the opportunity; especially as fifty two year old rabbis are essentially unemployable in the U.S. I treated the job as essentially full time, having Sima and the kids as active as possible in the synagogue as well. When we did move into the house a month later, the people were extremely generous in donating furniture and clothing. We truly felt we were home. In many ways, these were the best ten years of my life.This happy state was to continue until merger talks began with another synagogue, which left me sharing a pulpit with someone of totally different views and observances (or lack thereof), and a hostile attitude from the executive board, fearing that I would mess up the merger. More of that in a later post. I reached out to the Jewish communities in nearby Oceanside and Long Beach. Oceanside treated me like I had leprosy. The rabbi at the time did befriend me, but had to stop because his wife was afraid that were it to become known that he was talking to a rabbi of a Conservative synagogue, he could lose his job. Such things actually happen. At his parting visit, he demanded an explanation for what I was doing. I said "OK, let's look at the sources". He said "never mind, I know you know more than I do". Two years later he was replaced. His successor would never give me more than a limp handshake. Long Beach was different. We were warmly welcomed, and the rabbis did everything possible to help us. This was especially true of finding schools for the kids. Our plan had been to home school the kids, as tuition in day schools ran about $17,000 per child; not an easy sum to come up with on a $12,000 salary. The wife of one of the rabbis negotiated with the schools on our behalf, getting them to agree to $1,000 a year for all the kids. Sadly, some of the more right wing people in town were appalled that we were being welcomed. They pressured the rabbis, and the warmth of the reception began to cool. One influential member of that community still remarks "Siegel, he's a good guy. But he made the mistake of taking the advice of Hungarian rabbis, who don't really know anything (!!!) and probably consider him a non-Jew anyway". In fact, I believe the exact opposite is true. So, my kids were now registered in day schools, something I had not imagined. When we applied to our local school board, we were told that bus transportation would not be possible. Similar to my experience in Israel with Hussein (who built our house for free), a new unlikely hero came into our lives. That will be my next post.
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