From the US navy to Emanuel shul

THE newest member of the rabbinical team at Emanuel Synagogue is Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth, fresh from St Albans Masorti Synagogue in the UK. Rabbi Kaiserblueth and his family touched down in Sydney last week ahead of his official appointment as Emanuel’s fourth rabbi on Monday (September 5).

“I hope to impart the joy of Judaism through knowledge, study, and experience,” Rabbi Kaiserblueth said. “I also want to continue to build on the sense of community that already exists at Emanuel Synagogue, connecting people to each other, to themselves and to their faith. We have a rich tradition and I want to provide people with the tools to explore it for themselves.”

Rabbi Kaiserblueth hails from a “very international family”. Born in Puerto Rico to an Argentinian father and a Peruvian mother, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of two and then to Long Beach, California, a few years later.

He spent a year in Israel after graduating from high school, and then took up rabbinical studies in New York City after a year abroad in Argentina. After becoming ordained, he moved to St Albans in the UK, where he has lived since 2010 and where he met his wife in 2012.

“I’m really looking forward to moving to Sydney,” Rabbi Kaiserblueth said. “My wife, Rachel, is a Sydneysider, but also a world traveller like me. There is a sense of wonder and adventure in a place I’ve never lived. I am very intrigued by the uniqueness of the [Sydney Jewish] community. I eagerly look forward to taking on this newest challenge.”

Rabbi Kaiserblueth is no stranger to challenges. During his time in New York, he spent six years volunteering on an ambulance as an emergency medical technician. He is also a commissioned officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

“How many rabbis do you know who have taken a helicopter to shul or can drive a 100,000 tonne aircraft carrier?” he joked.

But Rabbi Kaiserblueth “very nearly didn’t become a rabbi”. He had originally decided on a medical career, until a chance encounter in the small town of Concepcion del Uruguay in Argentina changed his mind.

“A woman approached me with a difficult situation,” he recalled. “I was not learned nor experienced enough to give her the answer she needed to bring her comfort, but thankfully, my father happened to be visiting me at the time.

“I marvelled at how he was able to channel our tradition and some common sense, his amazing ability to speak and listen to people, and give this woman that ability to bring some closure and healing. I decided then that was the career that suited my talents and passions.”

YAEL BRENDER

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