Meet Rabbi Joe Black.
The 2,000 households that make up Temple Emanuel, the largest and oldest Jewish congregation in the Intermountain West, are taking the measure of the man who replaced retired Rabbi Steven Foster five sabbaths ago.
Foster’s 40-year career at Temple Emanuel made him the unofficial dean of Denver’s rabbinate and, many said, of Denver clergy.
His successor, a Chicago native, has spent the past 14 years as senior rabbi at Albuquerque’s Congregation Albert, which comprises about 700 households.
Black, 51, is also an accomplished composer, performer, and recording artist of children’s songs and Jewish spiritual music.
“I’m nervous, but I feel I’m prepared,” Black told a small gathering who turned up for a meet-and-greet, “A Cup of Joe with Joe.”
Black said it’s thrilling and a “huge responsibility” to take over a Reform congregation this size, but he has had a warm, encouraging welcome.
“You know what? Sometimes it’s time for change,” said Lenore Dechtman, a 20-year member of Temple Emanuel. “I think we’ve all embraced it, including Rabbi Foster. It’s new blood. A new beginning. It’s exciting and something to look forward to.”
Howard Amonick, a congregant since 2007, called Black “warm and engaging.”
“This,” Amonick added, “could be a seamless transition.”
Black told fellow coffee drinkers that, while he has experience as an assistant rabbi of a 2,000-household congregation, Temple Israel in Minneapolis, he has a lot to learn. “And you are going to be my teachers,” he said.
Staff members say Black is a good listener.
“I’m pretty low-key. I’m not a yeller,” Black told The Denver Post. “I’m someone who asks a lot of questions. That’s how I learn.”
He does seem calm.
“Tired,” he corrects with a faint smile.
He was awaiting closing on the sale of his home in Albuquerque, where his family remains for now. He had just performed a bris, or circumcision ceremony, for a friend’s baby during a one-day trip to San Francisco.
He’s renting here and missing his wife of 21 years, Sue, his children and his Australian cattle dog, Roscoe.
“I feel like a wandering Jew,” Black said. “It’s hard being away from my family.”
All but daughter Elana, a sophomore at the University of Texas, joined him this month.
Son Ethan, who turns 16 in September, will be a sophomore at Colorado Academy.
Rabbi Richard Rheins of Denver’s Temple Sinai said he is delighted his old classmate from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati is now in Denver.
“Joe will bring warmth and talent,” Rheins said. “He’s a talented musician. He’s witty, he’s charming and very nice — very approachable.”
Black said Denver was one of the few places he’d move to.
“I love to ski,” Black said. “I have no choice. My wife is an excellent skier. Her first gift to me was a pair of skis.”
Black has demurred from taking the stage here as a musician just yet, although he plans a big concert for his formal installation ceremony in January.
“I don’t want to be perceived as the guitar-playing rabbi,” Black said. “My music doesn’t define my rabbinate. My rabbinate defines my music.”
Music is a big part of him, but just one part.
“I also think of myself as scholar, teacher, community leader, voice for social justice, counselor and, first and foremost, a rabbi to my congregation.”
The cantor at Congregation Albert, Barbara Finn, worked with him for six years. You can almost hear her groaning at Black’s departure.
“He’s very caring. He sees the best in people and inspires them in a variety of ways — his music, his teaching and his general personality,” Finn said. “He always sees the positive.”
Black said he wasn’t looking to leave Albuquerque at first.
“But I had done everything I could in Albuquerque,” he said. “Maybe I needed one more challenge.”
He’s considering being more hands-on with the religious school than perhaps Foster was. Also, he’s thinking about adopting a new Reform movement prayer book.
Like Foster, he will be a voice for Jewish values, such as support for immigration reform, opposition to the death penalty, support for Israel, and support for the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
Only small changes are in evidence at Temple Emanuel so far.
Black doesn’t wear robes, except during high holidays. He has also made some minor liturgical changes, he said.
There is more to come.
“I’d like to see people get excited about prayer and Scripture and really wrestle with it and grow,” Black said.
But first Black wants to get to know his congregation.
“I don’t have the congregation’s spiritual rhythm yet,” he said.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
