Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Rabbi brings historical perspective to new job


By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Rabbi Barney Brickner, in his new job with the Wood River Jewish Community, hopes to educate people on what it means to be Jewish. Photo by Willy Cook

The Wood River Jewish Community welcomed a new rabbi this week.

Newly arrived from Columbus, Ohio, where he served as interim rabbi at Temple Israel, Rabbi Barney Brickner says he already feels at home.

In fact, the Rabbi and his wife, Erin, a registered nurse, are settling into their home in Hailey, with their youngest child, Sam, 12.

"I told my wife, 'We're not leaving,'" he said with an enthusiastic laugh. "I'm dying here."

A third-generation American Reform rabbi, Brickner, 49, has served at Temple Israel in Kansas City, Mo., Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Glenview, Ill., Temple Judea in Massapequa, N.Y., United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, Mo., and Congregation M'kor Shalom in Mt. Laurel, N.J.

He was raised in Larchmont, N.Y. and graduated from New England College, in New Hampshire. He has a deep connection to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., another insular resort community, where his family has been going for several generations.

Brickner received a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and was ordained in 1987.

He has worked with hospital ethics committees, interfaith clergy councils, local chapters of the National Council of Christians and Jews, Interfaith AIDS Residence Programs, and food banks.

"When my term ended at Temple Israel, I considered whether I wanted to stay in the congregation or go into academia," Brickner said. "I took graduate classes for a while at Ohio State University and was adjunct faculty at a local college. The reality was I didn't enjoy it as much as congregational life. We wanted to change our lifestyle. We have four children between us, ages 12 to 19. It's a blended family."

With one child still at home, the Blaine County School District was a "real attraction to me," he said. Son Sam will start at the Wood River Middle School this fall.

"I think I can make a difference here," he said. "This is a very dynamic community in its subtlety. People here are spiritual, but it's not 'churched.' That's not their nature, nor is it mine. In a way we're non-conformist. If I can help people find their God on a mountain top then I've done my job."

Speaking of mountains, Brickner is a passionate skier. He had barely moved into his office in Ketchum before he began to check out ski sales. He said he would like to hold services mountainside this coming winter. As with his predecessors, Brickner knows that interfaith communication is vital in a community this size.

"My father (Rabbi Balfour Brickner) was very involved in interfaith relations and in civil rights in the '60s. We were weaned on that," he said. "So I want to continue engaging in interfaith dialogue that exists here thanks to the previous clergy that were here.

"I think I can grow the community with proper invitation. There's a real desire to build a meaningful spiritual community. My vision is also to bring more Jewish art and culture to the valley, to develop more adult education and teach outside the box."




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