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Rabbi hired after yearlong search

BY ALISSA FLECK

The kvetching can stop. Grinnell finally has a rabbi.

After eight years on the job, Rabbi Deborah Brin left her position of associate chaplain in May of 2005. President Russell K. Osgood decided to replace the associate chaplain position with a half-time rabbi position. The college was unable to find a willing and acceptable replacement until this fall, when it hired Rabbi Daveen Litwin.

Chaplain Deanna Shorb said she worried the restricted job description of half-time rabbi would make it difficult for the college to persuade a qualified rabbi to accept the position. While Brin was also a half-time rabbi, she had other duties, including helping student groups.

"The president thought that it made the most sense to have a half-time rabbi," Shorb said. "Our peer institutions don't have associate chaplains, so he decided that the religious life intern could help with associate chaplain duties and the rabbi could just do the other half of the position."

Last year, members of the Jewish student group Chalutzim led weekly worship and meetings. Rabbinical student Daria Jacobs was brought in to lead services during the Jewish High Holidays. Grinnell students led their own Passover services.

Becca Weiner '08 wasn't heavily involved in Chaluztim last year, but noticed the absence. "You could tell there was no rabbi," she said. "There wasn't a lot of spiritual leadership within the organization."

Rabbi Litwin was hired after what Shorb describes as a difficult year of searching. The college attracted a lot of applicants, but not many that it considered qualified for the job.

"It's difficult because there's not a lot of community for the rabbi," Shorb said. "She's helping create community, but where does she go to have her religious needs met? To be Jewish culturally in this area is not super easy. We didn't want someone to come and then leave because it wasn't what they expected."

The final job posting requested a halftime rabbi who could "work based on the needs of the college" and also the "experience and gifts of the candidate."

Litwin previously served as an executive director of the Jewish group Hillel at Kansas University, and also served in a full congregation. Shorb said these two experiences made Litwin seem a natural fit for Grinnell's needs.

"Though her gifts were in congregational group, she had an interest in working with this age group, a true desire to come to Grinnell," said Shorb, "We were looking for someone who had experience in both areas, but a true desire to come to Grinnell and serve the Jewish community."

Elyse Goldenberg '10 felt good about Litwin. "She seemed really helpful and devoted, and that's just what we need here," Goldenberg said.

Weiner agreed. "Daveen offers a lot of spiritual and religious guidance for the students," she said.

In addition to service as the college's half-time rabbi, Litwin provides counseling services.

"While I'm obviously available to meet with students who are interested in talking about faith or spiritual direction É that's not the only reason that someone might come to see me," Litwin said. "I've had a lot of training. Someone could come talk to me about anything that's troubling them."

For Goldenberg and other Jewish students, though, just having a rabbi all the time-and during High Holidays-is key.

"I think it will be really nice to have a permanent rabbi again," Goldenberg said, "as well as someone to just help the students out."

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