Chizuk Amuno’s new senior rabbi cherishes the sanctity of community and the tenets of Conservative Judaism.
As a teenager, Rabbi Joshua Z. Gruenberg admits he didn’t dream of being a pulpit rabbi. Basketball, rather than the bimah, was usually on his mind.
“I thought I was going to be an athlete — then a lawyer, then a politician,” says Rabbi Gruenberg, 45, who graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a degree in political science. “But after college, I taught at a Solomon Schechter [day school] on Long Island for two years and realized the things I was passionate about were teaching, Jewish community and people. My favorite part now about being a rabbi is creating relationships with people, which is the strength and joy of my rabbinate and what I believe builds a community.”
On Nov. 4, Rabbi Gruenberg will be officially installed as Chizuk Amuno Congregation’s senior rabbi. Among those scheduled to be in attendance are Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and Dr. Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Rabbi Gruenberg succeeds Rabbi Ron Shulman, who served as the Stevenson synagogue’s senior rabbi from 2004 to 2017.
“I’m humbled to be the next steward of [the Chizuk Amuno] community,” Rabbi Gruenberg says. “It’s not lost on me that there have only been eight senior rabbis in the congregation’s nearly 150 years, and how awesome of a responsibility this is. … We have been so welcomed by everyone.”
One of four children, Rabbi Gruenberg grew up in New Rochelle, N.Y., and attended a Conservative day school. His parents met at the movement’s Camp Ramah and made their careers within Conservative Judaism — his father was a synagogue’s educational director while his mother worked at a Solomon Schechter school.
“I came from what you could call a glatt [strict] Conservative family,” says Rabbi Gruenberg, who spent his summers at Camp Ramah and was active with the movement’s United Synagogue Youth. (He later worked for both organizations.)
Prior to coming to Chizuk Amuno last July, Rabbi Gruenberg — who was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2002 — served Congregation Beth El in Yardley, Pa., for nearly seven years. He previously served Congregation Sons of Israel in Nyack, N.Y.
The rabbi and his wife, Elissa, have two children, Sam, 13, and Kayla, 11, both of whom attend Krieger Schechter Day School at Chizuk Amuno.
“When we went to visit his congregation, Beth El [in Yardley], during our rabbinical search, it was clear how much his congregation loved him,” Dr. Stephen M. Pomerantz, co-chair of Chizuk Amuno’s rabbinical search committee, says of Rabbi Gruenberg. “People pulled us aside to tell us that if we invited him to be our senior rabbi, he would care immensely about our congregation and inspire us to be our best. To hear his congregants speak about him was very telling.
“Rabbi Gruenberg’s authenticity and his ability to authentically engage with everyone he encounters is his true gift,” Pomerantz says. “He’s a genuine guy who everyone wants to be around, and he wants to be around everyone. That combined with his open-mindedness, his deeply rooted belief in Conservative Judaism, and his love for Israel and liturgy makes him truly special. ”
Ricky Gratz is co-chairing the rabbi’s installation program with his wife, Sarah, as well as Stephanie and Ronald Attman and Nancy and Dr. Richard Hudes.
Gratz attributes the congregation’s positive new energy in recent months to Rabbi Gruenberg’s “engaging personality, warmth and lovely family. … In his short time here so far, Rabbi Gruenberg has already made an incredible impact on our Chizuk Amuno community.”
During his first year at the synagogue of approximately 1,200 households, Rabbi Gruenberg says his primary goal is simply getting to know the community.
“I want to get the lay of the land to help me establish a vision for the future,” he says. “We are a community with limitless potential and wonderful schools, and I think Chizuk Amuno can be a center for all Jewish and social living in Baltimore.”
One way that Rabbi Gruenberg hopes to connect with the community is by creating an open door policy.
“We live in a time of relational Judaism,” he says. “People want to have a relationship with their synagogue and want to see their clergy in the community.
“Today, I believe people want a rabbi who can give a great sermon on the High Holidays but can also spend an afternoon playing golf or going to a football game,” says Rabbi Gruenberg, an unabashed Philadelphia Eagles fan who promises to root for the Ravens whenever they are not playing his favorite team.
So far, Rabbi Gruenberg says he has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Chizuk Amuno’s staff and lay leadership. He praises the congregation’s Rabbi Deborah Wechsler, Hazzan Emeritus Emanuel C. Perlman and Rabbi Emeritus Joel H. Zaiman for serving as tremendous resources to him.
“This is an absolute dream job and the kind of community I dreamed of being a part of when I decided to become a pulpit rabbi,” he says. “I absolutely loved my time in Nyack and Yardley, but always felt there was another stop on my journey. I don’t have that feeling anymore, and it’s an incredibly warm feeling to feel this is where I’m supposed to be and this is where I want to attain the title every rabbi wants — regardless of what they tell you — which is rabbi emeritus.”
Aliza Friedlander is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.
A former resident of Baltimore and central Florida, Ritt was active in the Soviet Jewry movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
For more than four decades, Goldman played a vital role in the supervision of elections in the city.
The 16-year-old sophomore succumbed to injuries sustained in a car crash last week in Cockeysville.
Schools in Montgomery County have recently experienced a wave of antisemitic incidents.