Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1994-12-29

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Hist. Society   I. ibr
Velina   fWe.       '^Z
COMP
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Peres, Arafat agree on
secret talks to break impasse
,   page 2
EXTRA • ORDINARY PEOPLE
page 3
Temple Israel to honor
hew congregants Jan; 13
page 6
Rabbi Cary Kozberg — A unique person witha unique job
ABOUT THE COVER
Rabbi Cary Kozberg, director ot Rabbinic
Services and pastoral leader at Wexner Heritage
Village, is pictured playing his guitar at a Heritage
House outing at Blacklick Woods last fall.
EARLY DEADLINE
llic deadline for the Jan. 5 issue ofthe O.JC
is noon on Dec. 29.
/ he OJC offit e wll be close J on Monday, Ian 2
mmmm In The Chronicle '■■■mm
At The JCC 11
Bowling , , 11
Community.., 5r7
Federation 12
Fifty Years Ago 7
FrontPage 2
In The News ,....8
Lifecycle : H *
*. -
Marketplace 10
New Generation ",, 12
i*
Synagogues....................... ......9
Viewpoint ..3,4
Want Aria .. , 9'
World's Week 2~
*
By Ina Horwitz-Whitmore -,
Congregants expect a rabbi
to be a teacher, sermonizer,
officiant, counselor, healer,
advisor, visionary, ambassador, fundraiser and all around
fix-it person, stated a recent
article in the Jewish Spectator.
Rabbi Cary Kozberg, director of Rabbinic Services and
pastoral leader of Wexner Heritage Village, certainly goes the
distance when it comes to providing religious,' emotional
and physical care-giving.
He is but one of perhaps ten
rabbis across the country in
the unique position of administering to some special segments ofthe population — senior residents at Heritage
Tower and Bexley Heritage
Apartments, Wexner Heritage
House residents who often
need an extra dose of tender
loving attention and Shalom
House residents, whose disabilities do not prevent them
from a heartfelt desire to learn
Jewish traditions and spiritual
meaning in life.
Only a small group of rabbis
have both the pastoral and
clinical training to work effectively as a full time chaplain in
hospitals and nursing homes.
This is a relatively new field
for rabbis, according to Rabbi
Kozberg.
Also, he believes that there
are few places like WHV that
have a facility such as Shalom
House which cares for individuals with developmental
disabilities. This population
draws on a different set of rabbinic skills to respond to Jewish needs, he said.
"Cary Kozberg is an individual who cares deeply about
our entire village of residents
and staff," said Executive Vice
President Gerald N. Cohn.
The feeling is most definitely mutual, for mention his
name to anyone on campus,
and you will hear a list of testimonials "a mile" long. "He's
an upbeat kind of a rabbi,"
said WHH resident Delores
Wells. "I like his way of explaining our religion. And
while he's young enough to
impart to us all a youthful
spirit, we know his thoughts
are with the older peopkfhere.
He's like a member of our
family."
Rabbi Kozberg didn't start
out to be a rabbi. A native of
Houston, Texas, he originally
how many people seemed to
be looking inward: "While the
whole world was changing,
many just appeared to be going about their merry way," he
said. "That bothered me."
When he began researching
a paper on Maimonides for a
Spanish-Jewish history class,
he became impressed with the
work ofthe teacher who lived
some 800 years ago, yet was
addressing the same issues
with which Rabbi Kozberg
was wrestling.
Rabbi Kozberg spoke to his
own rabbi and began to reevaluate his future. As he looked
further into the teachings of
Judaism, he found them to be
very compelling.
Babbi Cary Kozberg explains the symbols on the seder plate
to Wexner Heritage House resident Ethel Seigel.
wanted to be.a doctor. But
events that occurred during
his college years at the University of Texas, Austin, in the
early 1970s, changed his direction. j
As he observed the social
changes at the time, he noted -
"It was as if I had a wake-up
call," he said.
In the summer of '71, his
whole lifestyle began to
change, and as he watched his
contemporaries rebelling and
challenging cultural institutions and hypocrisy, his move
toward a greater observance of
Judaism seemed much more
constructive.
"The Torah teaches that before we can improve the
world, we must improve ourselves," he said.
Upon deciding to go to rabbinical school, Rabbi Kozberg
graduated magna cum laude
in 1972 with a BA in Hebrew
Studies. He first spent a year
studying in Israel and then
four years at the Hebrew
Union College in Cincinnati.
It was there he met his wife,
Ellen, who was attending the
University of Cincinnati.
After being ordained in
1977, he spent three years at
Temple Shalom in Springfield, Ohio, followed by two
years at Beth Israel in Roanoke, Va. He then served five
years as Hillel director at the
University of Texas.
His original plan was to
work with Hillel youth. "I remembered the late '60s and
early '70s when so many
things were happening to and
by young people," he said. "I
thought this was the arena
where I would stay."
But in 1987, he, his wife and
children moved to Israel with
the intention of making aliyah. They stayed on a moshav
near Jerusalem. There he was
not an acting rabbi but found
he could contribute to the religious and cultural life of the
community.
"The experience taught me
a lot about myielf," he said. "I
could set aside my rabbinic
identity and see what it was
like to be a concerned lay person."
Upon returning to the Unix-
see KOZBmRO pg. 4
7ii