Rabbi Babchuck on holidays, Judaism and entrepreneurs

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Rabbi Elan Babchuck, 35, grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. Since July of 2016, he has served as the director of innovation at “Clal,” the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, which is headquartered in New York. Babchuck was ordained in 2012 at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles.  Upon graduation, Babchuck returned to the East Coast to serve as rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Providence from 2012 to 2016. He lives in Providence with his wife, Lizzie Pollock, and their children: Micah, 5 years old; and Nessa, 23 months old.

 

The following interview has been slightly edited.

Q: Favorite Jewish food?  

A: Spinach and cheese borekas. My grandmother shared her recipe with me. She passed away last summer at the age of 102, and this recipe was passed down through the generations. She used to make the most amazing borekas.

Q: Favorite Jewish holiday? Why?

A: Sukkot. I love how it’s a very humbling experience. I have memories as a kid, sleeping in my sleeping bag with my siblings in the sukkah. Even when it was freezing cold, we were there. There is something very humbling, that after the High Holidays, when everyone is dressed up and on their best behavior, to then have this “coming back down to earth” moment, out in the sukkah, connecting with the earth and people, inviting others from past memories, often out of your close-knit circles to break bread with you. And, if it’s cold, you get cold, and if it’s raining, you get wet, and there is something incredibly grounding about that.

Q: Favorite Jewish song?

A: “Bim Bam.” My children love it, and when I see them happy, I’m happy.

Q: Favorite Jewish movies?

A: “A Serious Man” and “Keeping the Faith.”

Q: Favorite Israeli city to visit? Why?

A: Beer Sheva. I love my family and a bunch of them are still there. Every time I go, it becomes more legitimate as a city. When I was 7, we celebrated when the city got its first mall, and now it’s exciting to see a city developing so quickly.

Q: Favorite Israeli city to live?  Why?

A: Jerusalem. I spent a year living there while in rabbinical school and it was a transformative year for a lot of reasons. As a kid, Israel was never the center for my religious identity. I went to Beer Sheva, and had a connection to that city because I had family there. It was not until later in life when I really settled in and immersed myself in Jerusalem’s “Jewish heartbeat,” and connected with the city and the state on a more holistic level.

Q: Favorite Hebrew word and why?

A: “Lehizdangeff” – To walk around Dizengoff (in Tel Aviv). The reason I love this word is that it tells me that Hebrew is an evolving language, and you have to be open to newness. Even though our traditions are anchored in the language of Hebrew, new words let us know that Hebrew is a language that is open to innovation, and, I hope, in turn, Judaism and Israel will always be open in that way.

Q: Favorite Yiddish word and why?

A: Mensch –  good person. I love the whole concept of this word as a holistic perspective of who a person is from the inside-out – not just their actions, but what they stand for. And, it’s something that my wife and I think about a lot as we’re raising two kids. Today’s world doesn’t necessarily value Menschen, whether it be in the job marketplace or the social marketplace, and to raise kids, really focusing on what it is to be a mensch, I believe is a nuanced and complex act of love.

Q: Best part of keeping Kosher, worst/most difficult part of keeping Kosher?

A: Best part: It offers an opportunity to be mindful of what I consume and to connect more deeply, not only with the food itself, but those who had a hand in creating it, and with God.

Worst/most difficult part: For me it’s kind of easy because I am a vegetarian. Therefore, there are not as many logistical challenges.

Q: Favorite part of being a rabbi?

A: My favorite part of being a rabbi is the ability to serve people. My approach has always been to put people before programs, to approach people with trust, empathy and openness. On my best days, I can do that in every moment and with every person, and that is something that I always strive to do. My philosophy as a servant leader is to start with people, and try to understand where they’re coming from, what their passions are, what they are worried about, and where they want to go in life. I can work with people to co-create moments of meaning and to develop purpose in life, and we find a way to walk that path together. I would not be where I am without the servant leaders who walked with me.

Q: Favorite Jewish memory from your life/childhood?

A: I think it would be on Christmas, actually. On Christmas, as a kid, I used to volunteer at the Big Brother/Big Sister organization in Boston. I remember that my father would pick up the meals, and we would get back in the car and drive to someone’s home. We visited elderly individuals who did not have any visitors for Christmas, and I just remember the joy that he [his father] would bring to their lives, singing songs in a friendly and warm tone, always winning people over – even the ones who were suspicious and didn’t want visitors. I think it was the single-most Jewish thing I could ever remember about my childhood.

Q: Greatest piece of advice someone has given you, and who gave it to you? 

A: “If you’re ever the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room” – a famous quote that my wife, Lizzie Pollock, lives by. What that says to me is: I don’t care who you are, or what room you are in, there is always an opportunity to learn from people. The second that you walk into a room and assume you are the smartest person there, you stop listening and do not take advantage of the opportunity to learn and engage. I don’t care what my title is, was or will be, and it doesn’t matter if I’m preaching to 1,000 people or sitting in a room with one. I always walk into a room knowing that there is an opportunity for me to learn something really profound. The opportunities to learn and grow are endless.

Q: If you could have three dinner guests, living or from history, who would they be and why?

A: Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. He had the forethought to leave Jerusalem right as the Second Temple was falling and take with him a cohort of rabbis who would eventually re-create and redesign Jewish life around the realities of a post-temple world.

I would want to know from him – How did you know it was time [to leave] and how did you balance your own love of Jewish life as it was and desire for Jewish life to move forward in a different way.

[Authors] Brene Brown and Adrienne Maree Brown. Brene writes a lot about vulnerability and being strong, and she is my guru right now. She reimagines what it means to be strong and powerful in the world and instills a confidence in the people who can read her books and follow her message. She’s revolutionary.

Adrienne Maree Brown wrote a book called “Emergent Strategy,” which should be the guide book for anyone seeking to build a movement, a community, a new venture, start up, or even a new religion.

My father. My dad died 14 years ago and I have conversations with him in my mind about what he would say about parenting and how his grandson Micah, who is named after my father, Michael, approaches the world with the same kind of wonder and grace that my dad did. I would want his wisdom and his take on my next steps in life and would love for him to sit with my family and break bread. And, I’m sure that he would have amazing conversations with Brene, Adrienne, and Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. I think if we could do all of that in really big sukkah, that would be a taste of the world to come.

 

Q: You have had many successful entrepreneurial ventures in your life. What are you most proud of? What is next?

A: I think I am most proud of one of my first businesses, starting a paint company. To knock on someone’s door and say, “Your house looks terrible, I’d like to work for you,” and not have the door slammed in your face, is very difficult. It took about six weeks. Once we started painting, it was incredibly rewarding, stepping up to a house, seeing it in disarray and seeing the transformation.

Q: What’s next?

I work for “Clal,” the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (headquartered in New York), and we’re building something called the “Glean” incubator. It’s the world’s only incubator for spiritual (rabbi) entrepreneurs and we have a unique partnership with Columbia Business School where we get to train both for entrepreneurial skill sets and the spiritual self-work that an entrepreneur needs to succeed today. I’m incredibly proud of the work that my team has done. We’re in a time in the American religious landscape where things are shrinking and resources (funding) are scarcer. But, there is an emergent upswell of abundant possibility. That’s the world I get to live in every day and that’s the world we’re trying to support entrepreneurs in building with us.

Q: What about the High Holy Days and Jewish New Year excites you? What are some of your Jewish New Year’s resolutions?

A: I really love learning Torah, and all the more so when it is “distilled” by all of my teachers. I get to read so many of the High Holiday sermons from the 250 “Rabbis Without Borders” that I serve at Clal, on Facebook or elsewhere. I love going to Temple Emanu-El and hearing from Rabbis Alan Flam, Rachel Zerin and Wayne Franklin. Normally, I hate checking Facebook, but sometime around the High Holidays, when my friends are posting some of their Torah, I find that it is such a time of abundant possibility and I have so much admiration for my colleagues and gratitude for my opportunity to learn from them.

One of my resolutions is to catch up on “Daf Yomi,” which is the practice of studying a page of Talmud per day, because I am a little bit behind. Another is, I want to make time for some “hands-on” volunteer work on a regular basis.

SAM SERBY is a freelance writer who lives in East Greenwich. He previously worked at the Peres Center for Peace, in Tel Aviv.