-Rob Goldberg
I joined the JCLP professional team last November with great anticipation. For much of my entire professional life, I’ve intersected with small Jewish communities such as those on college campuses when I worked for Hillel International. I currently serve as the President of the Bryant University Hillel Council, a board that oversees Jewish life for less than 100 Jewish students. I also was the Executive Director of a synagogue in Providence, RI, albeit a large one, but an historic community that maintained the 6th oldest cemetery in the State, and cemeteries are a significant element of JCLP’s work. I was even engaged in conversations with fellow consultant Steve Edelstein in my capacity as CEO of the Buffalo Jewish Federation when he was working with Temple Beth-Israel in Niagara Falls to help them plan for the maintenance of their cemetery. So, it feels natural to be a part of this holy work to support smaller Jewish communities and help them to think strategically about their future.
So, these first months have felt “besherit,” meant to be, and have included several “besherit” moments like one last fall. I was speaking with my cherished colleague Jay Lewis, CEO of the Kansas City Federation, and he told me about a play written by Victor Wishne called “Tree of Life” that had recently premiered at their JCC. A finalist in the 2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contest, the play centers on Ken, a septuagenarian who is clinging to his proud but slowly dying Jewish congregation in the tiny town of Wiconee, Iowa. The synagogue’s antique Torah and its future is a central character as the story unfolds.
I quickly learned that Victor had been in touch years earlier with JCLP CEO Noah Levine when he was researching the play, and his fictional account is based on the true story of the B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Ottumwa, Iowa, a Conservative congregation that closed in 2010. In January, Victor, Noah, and I had a long Zoom to explore whether we could help promote the play in other Jewish communities. During our conversation, Victor revealed that his best friend from the University of Michigan is the son of one of Buffalo Federation’s major leaders, reinforcing that our connection was indeed besherit!
Well, one of those potential other venues for “Tree of Life” is right here in my backyard, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo’s Jewish Repertory Theatre. We are in conversation about sponsoring a reading of the play in March of 2026, a way not only to promote JCLP, but to use it as a magnet to draw in those in Jewish Buffalo who grew up in small Jewish communities, so many of which are dotted throughout NY State.
I’m honored to be a part of the JCLP team of dedicated professionals and volunteers and look forward to many more “besherit moments” as we work to support small Jewish congregations in New York State and beyond.
Rob Goldberg is Senior Advisor for the Buffalo Jewish Federation and a part-time consultant with JCLP. He lives in East Amherst, NY with his wife Shira and their rescue poodle Rafi.