Temple Israel's Rabbi Allen Bennett Retiring

From a press release by Temple Israel of Alameda:

"I was about five years old when I discovered what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was determined right there and then, in my religious school kindergarten class, to become a Rabbi. My mother's response was very direct. She said, 'That's nice...now why don't you go out and play in traffic?''

Those words are from from soon-to-retire of Alameda's . Rabbi Bennett will depart at the end of June after serving the sole Jewish congregation in Alameda for the last 16 years.

Temple Israel of Alameda has scheduled a series of events to honor the highly regarded religious leader. Kicking off the celebration is a Farewell Gala Dinner on Sunday, May 6 at Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland. KQED's Michael Krasny will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Tickets to the gala are still available, but space is limited. A tribute book is also being prepared in his honor.

(Other programs in his honor next month at Temple Israel, 3183 Mecartney Rd.,  include a Friday Night Chai Shabbat Service and musical tribute offered May 11 at 7:30 p.m.,  a Tot Shabbat service at the synagogue on May 18 at 6:30 p.m., a potluck picnic May 20 at noon and at an Oneg Shabbat following the 7:30 p.m. Shabbat Service on May 25.)

Rabbi Bennett joined Temple Israel as its spiritual leader in 1996. Earlier in his career he was the Rabbi at Congregation Sha'ar Zhav in San Francisco for three years. He also held positions with the American Jewish Congress and as Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of the East Bay.

He has also been very active in interfaith and other civil rights activities, including a program which brings together Northern California rabbis from all streams of Judaism traveling together in Israel and meeting with Israeli leaders.

"I can't tell you what I have achieved other than to have served the Jewish people as well as I believe I could and hopefully have left things (and people) generally better than I found them," Rabbi Bennett says.

He pursued this dream after graduating from Western Reserve University in Cleveland by attending the Hebrew-Union College in Cincinnati. He also pursued a doctorate in theology, psychology, sociology and anthropology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

When asked about his retirement plans, the Rabbi says he has several things in mind. "I'm planning to volunteer at Congregation Shir Ha Tzafon, the Liberal Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, three months of the year and live in Jerusalem for four months," the Rabbi explained. He is also hoping to work with Israeli non-governmental agencies dealing with human rights.

The remaining five months of the year will be spent fulfilling a childhood dream.

Rabbi Bennett says, "I want to visit every American national park as well as 350 other national landmarks and monuments. And, of course, there will be time to visit friends and family."

Asked about what he will miss about serving the Temple Israel community, he says it will be the people who made his 15 years so remarkable and unforgettable.

"My favorite memories are of the times when people have told me that I have touched their lives in loving, affirming, compassionate ways, whether in bringing them under the wedding canopy, through a bar or bat mitzvah process, being with someone as their loved one dies and accompanying them through a funeral and grieving, welcoming a child into the covenant, or welcoming someone into Judaism as an adult. But there have been many of those, as you would expect, and each of them has become a cherished memory," he adds.

For more information about the gala or other events surrounding Rabbi Bennett's retirement, please call the Temple at 510-337-0137 or email events@templeisraelalameda.org. You can visit its website here.