Ahavath Achim brings young rabbi and his family to Portland
By PAUL HAIST, Jewish Review
article created on: 2011-09-15T00:00:00
Portland’s only Sephardic congregation has hired a full-time rabbi.
Congregation Ahavath Achim President Charles Levy announced that Rabbi Michael Kaplan will arrive in Portland in time for the upcoming celebration of the High Holy Days.
“I am very happy that finally we have found a rabbi that matches the needs of our congregation and it members,” said Levy. “We can now look forward to serving these needs as well as sharing with the entire Portland Jewish community our beautiful Sephardic heritage.”
The search for a rabbi took about three years, according to Levy.
He said they searched carefully for an individual who could meet the needs of what he called the congregation’s diverse membership.
Rabbi Kaplan comes to Portland from New York City where he served as assistant rabbi at the Riverdale Jewish Center in The Bronx.
Kaplan grew up in the Syrian Sephardic community of Deal on New Jersey’s eastern shore.
After high school, he studied at Yeshiva HaKotel in Jerusalem where, in addition to the general curriculum, he also took part in the yeshiva’s Sephardic program. He became acquainted with several Sephardic leaders there, including Rav Ovadia Yosef and Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, z”l, both past Sephardic chief rabbis of Israel.
From HaKotel, Kaplan went on to New York’s Yeshiva University where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with a minor in business administration, before taking a master’s degree in medieval history at YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies
At YU Kaplan also continued studying for his smicha (ordination).
Kaplan is married. He and his wife Mira are the parents of two children, Dina, 5, and Yoel, 4
Mira Kaplan grew up on Staten Island. She earned a Ph.D. in physical therapy at Touro College and worked with children for the New York Board of Education.
Ahavath Achim Treasurer Richard Matza—a past president of the congregation—said the coming of Kaplan and his family to Portland presented the congregation with a twofold opportunity.
“This is a great opportunity for us to have this young rabbi and his family here. We can reach out to and connect with other young families,” he said.
“We can offer something old in terms of Sephardic tradition and something new in a vital young rabbi and his family.”
Kaplan visited Portland in August to meet with congregants, rabbis and other community leaders. He called at local Jewish schools and participated in a Shabbaton at Ahavath Achim.
In accepting his new post at Ahavath Achim, Kaplan wrote, “I am honored to be coming with my family to Portland to serve as the rabbi of Ahavath Achim. My wife Mira and I look forward to the positive impact we will have on the community by engaging the entire Jewish community and sharing the Sephardic traditions upon which Ahavath Achim prides itself.
“We envision a synagogue where all Jews will feel comfortable and we invite the entire community to experience an authentic Sephardic Shabbat and holiday season with us.”
Levy—president of the approximately 65-family congregation for three years—stressed the congregation’s commitment to inclusivity and welcome.
“We invite Jews of all backgrounds and all observance levels,” he said.
Founded in 1910, Ahavath Achim is among Portland’s oldest current Jewish congregations.
Citing the congregation’s more than century-long history and the coming of Rabbi Kaplan and his family, Levy said, “The founders of Ahavath Achim—the Hasson, Menashe and Policar families—would be very proud of this young family.”