Temple B’nai Abraham welcomes a rabbi ‘home’
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Temple B’nai Abraham welcomes a rabbi ‘home’

Staff Writer, New Jersey Jewish News

Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz joined the clergy team at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston in July.
Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz joined the clergy team at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston in July.

Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz, a Livingston High School graduate with deep roots in the town, has joined the Livingston synagogue’s clergy team as its newest rabbi.

Working alongside Rabbi Clifford Kulwin and Cantor Jessica Epstein, Dantowitz will serve the congregation on a part-time basis in a variety of areas, including teaching adults and children, working on programming, conducting pastoral care, and leading services.

“I’m looking forward to working with individuals and families, getting to work with people at all ages and stages, from building community with preschool parents to working with seniors who have so much wisdom to share,” she said in a telephone interview.

The position is a homecoming for Dantowitz — although in many senses she never really left. Dantowitz grew up in Livingston. Her family belonged to Temple B’nai Jeshurun, which was also the first pulpit she served upon receiving ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1993. She remained there until 2004, and during that time served as president of the Millburn-Short Hills Clergy Association.

After leaving B’nai Jeshurun, she directed admissions and recruitment at HUC-JIR in New York.

Dantowitz lives in Millburn with her husband David and their four sons, Ezra, Benjamin, Samuel, and Daniel. The children all attend Millburn public schools.

“I’m so happy to be back” at TBA, she said. “I feel fortunate to have been able to find meaningful work as a pulpit rabbi without having to uproot my family.”

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