Rabbi Julie Greenberg has been a part-time rabbi of the reconstructionist Leyv Ha-Ir congregation in Philadelphia for 23 years. While in this position, she has seen administrations of four different presidents, a global pandemic, and the worst terror attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, among other things. Nothing, however, has been able to surpass what she dealt with in her first week on the job.
“I started one week before 9/11,” she said. “I was a young rabbi, new to the community, and we really leaned on each other in a time of need.”
The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks showed Greenberg that the community she had joined was a special one and, more importantly, the right place for her.
“It’s a community of people who want to be there for themselves, not because they need to bar mitzvah somebody or they want to belong somewhere but only come once a year, but because they are people who want to live a Jewish path in their own way, together,” she said.
Leyv Ha-Ir, as a reconstructionist synagogue, has a different makeup and take on things than more traditional peers of theirs. Greenberg summed it up succinctly.
“We have white hair and purple hair here, and it’s beautiful to see,” she said.
Reconstructionist Judaism leans on the main tenets of the religion, but also encourages more open interpretations of Jewish tradition. That’s what drew Greenberg to it many decades ago.
“The core idea of reconstructionist Judaism is that Judaism is an evolving religious civilization, so we inherit the past and we get to create the future,” she said. “We don’t rigidly do what everybody did 4,000 years ago. It’s more like we believe Judaism evolves in each generation and it’s our mandate in this generation to meet this moment with all of the treasures of Judaism and create Judaism for the future.”
For Greenberg, who was one of the first LGBTQIA+ rabbis to be admitted to the rabbinical seminary, Leyv Ha-Ir serves as a place that welcomes all Jews, especially those who might have felt excluded by traditionally religious spaces.
“We have welcomed people from interfaith families [and] people from same-sex families who didn’t used to be included in mainstream Jewish communities,” she said. “We are focused on welcoming the next generation of Jews who are living vibrant, passionate Jewish lives.”
This outlook on Judaism can be seen in everything that Greenberg does at Leyv Ha-Ir. For example, she said she is especially proud of the synagogue’s multigenerational choir that has adults as young as 30 and as old as 80.
“There’s no auditioning, and we have a fantastic music director. Everyone sings wonderful traditional and contemporary Jewish music,” Greenberg said.
For many years, Greenberg operated what she called the Joyful Jewish House of Study. Essentially, for about 40 years, children around ages 10 to 13 would gather in Greenberg’s living room and she would help prepare them for their bar or bat mitzvahs.
“When the pandemic started, we moved it to Zoom and did that for a few years, but at this point, I have so much that I am doing that I had to give up something, and sadly I gave up that,” she said. “I loved working with that age group.”
The type of environment that Greenberg has fostered her entire career — and for the last 25 years, at Leyv Ha-Ir — is a light one full of critical thinking and acceptance. She recalled a story of a skit that a member put on during a show at the synagogue years ago that still makes her laugh.
“Because I was [early to] supporting interfaith marriage, she said, ‘Our rabbi supports interfaith, inter-this, inter-that, even intergalactic!’” she said, laughing. “It was sort of like they were saying, ‘We tolerate you, and we love you,’ and I have loved them back for decades.”