I am a “rabbi.”  The word rabbi means “teacher.”  I love that meaning, but I would even take it a step further and call myself a “translator.”  Through my learning, experience and knowledge, I am fortunate to be able to take the ancient wisdom of the past and translate it into meaningful messages for today.

It is funny, because before I became a rabbi, I wanted to be a police officer.  Graduating from the California State University system in 1990 with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice and minor in Sociology, I thought I could change the world.  To be a police officer takes a very special person, and I was not one of those special people.  But I loved that police officers help people in the most critical times in their lives and are called upon to help navigate difficult crossroads.  My work as a spiritual guide is very similar and I fit much better into that catagory.  I am certainly not arresting people, but it is such an honor to help individuals when they are at a fork in the road and not certain of

which direction to take.  I don’t always have the road map either, but I am a good navigator for helping people find their own maps.

I love to study and learn and my greatest education comes from working with people.  During rabbinical school (1990-1995) at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, I attended the Jerusalem, Los Angeles and Cincinnati campuses for study (graduating with a Masters Degree and Ordination as a rabbi).  I did receive the Faculty Award for Academic Achievement and the Jewish War Veterans’ Award for Outstanding Scholarship.   But those awards mattered to me very little – it was the moments as a counselor when I helped someone make a life choice that changed them or when I was teaching a class and saw the light bulb go on in someone’s head that were the greatest awards of all for me.

I have had tremendous opportunities.  I was a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Hillel with college students, was a therapist at University of Cincinnati Walk-In Psychological Clinic have now been the spiritual leader of a congregation for more than thirteen years.  These varied experiences bring light to my life everyday and teach me that enlightenment is eternal and the possibilities for meaning endless.  Being the father of three (11 year old boy, 9 year old boy and 6 year old girl) brings the most illumination into my life and I learn more than I ever thought possible.

I believe that when one applies tradition to their lives, they ought to feel better, not worse about themselves.  My job, my calling, is to meet people where they are and then take them on the journey of the spirit.  Spirituality, religion, and the wisdom traditions ought to be compelling and relevant in one’s life, otherwise there is no purpose in practicing them or learning them.

Allow me to help translate the traditions of the past to make meaning for the future.