The Installation of Rabbi Rachael Houser

Installation Remarks
By Rabbi Rachael Houser

There’s a certain poetry to this week’s Torah portion, Shemot, being read at my installation. It’s the portion I wrote about for my entrance essay to rabbinical school in 2019. As Rabbi Kelman detailed, Shemot begins with a web of women through whose interconnected efforts Moses’s life is spared: Shifra and Puah, wily midwives who sidestep Pharaoh’s murderous decree against the Hebrew babies. Yocheved, who puts her faith in God to save her newborn son. Miriam, his watchful sister. Pharaoh’s daughter, who defies her father’s hatred in choosing to love and raise Moses.

Shemot, to me, is what Judaism is all about. In times of despair, Jews look to our most vulnerable and we act on their behalf, perhaps never even knowing how vast the network of support is. Yocheved might not be aware of the midwives who enable the Hebrew women to keep giving birth to sons, nor does she know who will pick Moses up out of his basket once she sets him adrift. But she acts, and the midwives act, and Miriam acts, and Pharaoh’s daughter acts, and it is through their combined actions that a leader, who will bring the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt, is saved.

I am not Moses, but, like him, I know a thing or two about the support of others pushing me where I need to be. Most of us can point to a web of people whose strength and sustaining efforts enabled us to be where we are today.

I would not be here before you on this bimah without my family, who have been in my corner throughout my conversion to Judaism and my education in rabbinical school. I also want to recognize with gratitude dear friends who, from a young age, introduced me to Judaism through rituals and holidays that are now the bedrock of my life—especially the Thaw Family. I thank my excellent professors and classmates at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, whose teachings will guide me for the rest of my life. I owe a great debt of gratitude in particular to my mentor and friend, Rabbi Naamah Kelman, who from the first year of rabbinical school bolstered my spirits and helped me believe that this is work I was born for and capable of doing—I am so grateful you could be here today to install me.

And finally, I must thank my new colleagues at Central Synagogue. I pinch myself daily to see if I’ve dreamed up my good fortune at working at a place like this—so beautiful, so forward thinking, so giving, staffed by sages and experts in their fields—but at this point, if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up. To work under the leadership of Rabbi Angela Buchdahl is an honor I endeavor daily to deserve, and to have Rabbi Ari Lorge as my mentor and friend makes me pretty much the luckiest rabbi on the planet. I extend my thanks to Rabbis Salth, Berman, Haber, Mandel, Rosenthal, Rotholz, and Rubin, and Cantors Mutlu and Pearsall. Thank you for welcoming me so warmly and making me feel like part of the team. My gratitude goes out to our incomparable executive director Marcia Caban, and my esteemed colleague Dr. Shira Epstein. And special thanks to our lay leadership, in particular our president Jon May who leads us with such passion. Finally, I am tremendously grateful to Jonathan Crystal, the chair of my search committee, and the entire search committee itself which made my dream come true a year ago when they chose me as the newest rabbi at Central.

And to congregants and friends here tonight, I promise you with my entire heart that I will work tirelessly to serve you with joy. In Parshat Shemot, we see how small, interconnected acts of courage and kindness prove the foundation of huge changes. I look forward to witnessing and being part of these acts that move us forward here at Central, where everyone is so invested in our Jewish future. Judaism is, at its best, a community, a congregation, whose web of support and strength carries us to a better place. It is my privilege to be part of that here, with all of you. Thank you.