Rabbis Dorsch, Dosick, and Nevarez Making News
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – A resignation, two awards for a recently published book, and an upcoming lecture highlight news about members of the San Diego County rabbinical corps.
Rabbi Josh Dorsch, spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego, announced that he plans to return to his home on the East Coast following the completion of this just started fiscal year.
“By notifying you now, I want to give the congregation ample time to find my successor, while I pursue opportunities closer to our family back East,” Dorsch commented in a letter to the Conservative congregation.
“Thee past two years have been among the most difficult and challenging for all of humanity, for many in our community, but also for my family and extended family back East,” said the rabbi, whose last pulpit was at Congregation Beth El in New Rochelle, N.Y. “COVID-19 has pushed some, if not all, of us to reevaluate our priorities and re-envision our lives.”
Debbie Mishek, M.D., who succeeded David Ogul as the congregation’s president on July 1, said she was “surprised and saddened” to learn about the rabbi’s plans to relocate.
“Fear not, we are ready to adapt to this unforeseen challenge!” she said. “This is an opportunity to build a new future for Tifereth Israel especially as we emerge from the isolation and restrictions of COVID-19. After the High Holidays we will begin our search in earnest for a new rabbi to hopefully join us in July 2022. In the coming weeks and months, we will have many focus group to gather information about what the Tifereth Israel community would like to see in our next rabbi.”
In Carlsbad, meanwhile, Rabbi Wayne Dosick of the Elijah Minyan received the welcome news that his book, Radical Loving: One God, One World, One People had won the 2021 International Book Awards, sponsored by American Book Fest, in two categories: Religion-General, and Spirituality-Inspirational.
The book awards were granted in 90 categories, which drew 2,000 entries, according to Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of American Book Fest.
“The 2021 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the world,” Keen commented.
Heather Z. Rothstain, in a review of Dosick’s book for San Diego Jewish World on April 1, noted that Radical Loving “begins with the statement ‘What an incredible time it is to be alive!’ Immediately the reader is asked to question the author’s opinion. ‘Is it really?’ We turn the page and so begins an anecdote of a village of rice growers, and how wonderful their lives are. Then in an instant, a terrible storm causes a flood that completely destroys their village and their food supply of rice fields. Thanks to one of the village elders, the people were warned ahead of time and were able to escape to higher elevation and were saved. The anecdote ends of course with a message: ‘The village and the fields can rise again. And the villagers can forever tell the tale.’ Rabbi Dosick is calling on the world to band together and to not forget that we are ‘One World, one People’ and stronger together. We the readers are the villagers and as my Aunt Nancy has told me, my generation and the next will be retelling our tale of the 2020 pandemic to our grandchildren for years to come.”
In a review appearing in Tikkun, Rabbi Leah Novick wrote: “Rabbi Wayne Dosick’s striking new book, Radical Loving, creates a powerful path for change that requires no organized faith commitment. He offers sensible, do-able advice on conducting a life that will help sustain the planet, the humans, and other species living on earth.”
Dosick is San Diego County’s longest-standing active rabbi, who shepherded two Conservative congregations and now focuses on Jewish Renewal though his Elijah Minyan. Previously the rabbi who moved Congregation Beth El from Clairemont to La Jolla, and the founder of Congregation Beth Am (when it was located in Solana Beach before its move to Carmel Valley), Dosick declared himself “immensely humbled” by the twin book awards.
(Photo: Beth Israel Quarterly)
Meanwhile, the Beth Israel Men’s Club has announced that the Reform congregation will hold a forum at 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 14, at which its new senior rabbi , Jason Nevarez, “will review the current state of Beth Israel, our role in the San Diego Jewish community, and what we can look forward to as we start to reopen and bring people back to our campus.”
At the same meeting of the Men’s Club, there will be a short installation ceremony for the club’s new board. The forum is open to the general public.
Rabbi Nevarez received a bachelor’s degree in 1998 from the University of Michigan, and was ordained in 2006 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where he also earned a master’s degree both in Hebrew Literature and Religious Education.
For 17 years, Rabbi Nevarez served at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, New York, before taking his position at Congregation Beth Israel in San Diego.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com