Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
A few years ago, Rabbi Yonah Gross of Congregation Beth Hamedrosh in Wynnewood began running marathons. He did it because he “needed a project.”
It’s an intensive project, but it’s one that he can do on his own schedule, unlike playing a team sport. Just like Gross’ other pursuits, he went all in, and the results speak for themselves. Soon, he will run his third Philadelphia Marathon.
“I thought it would be a lot easier than it was. I had to get through a couple of injuries. But it works out well because my job takes me all over the area, so I usually can throw my sneakers and clothing in the car, and once I finish, wherever I am, there’s usually a nice running trail,” Gross said.
Gross is a full-time rabbi, but he also serves as the kashrus administrator at the Community Kashrus of Greater Philadelphia, or Keystone-K.
Always working for the Jewish community, Gross also started what he calls “a side hustle.”
Mezuzah and More offers items like mezuzahs, tefillin and Sifrei Torah, as well as the process of checking them. They ship nationwide, and Gross said it has led to interesting experiences.
“My first large job was providing mezuzahs and putting them up in the JFCS building here in Lower Merion,” he said. “It’s been able to bring me across the area. Not only do people come to me, I go to them and I help them figure out where their mezuzahs might [go]. I’ve been helping synagogues across the area in terms of fixing their Torahs. … It’s been a very nice experience.”
While his professional life helps sustain him, Gross is a family man first and foremost. He and his wife, Chava, have five children: Yehoshua, Tuvya, Shira, Yosef and Rivka.
Shua, the oldest, is studying in Israel following his high school graduation last year. Gross said that, while all of his children are deeply Jewish, he doesn’t think any will follow in his footsteps as a congregational rabbi.
“I think they appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, but I don’t think they’re looking at the rabbinate as a profession,” he said.
Outside of work, Gross and his family love the outdoors. When they came here from Phoenix, Arizona, about 15 years ago, they did so partly because this part of the country just felt like home.
Chava Gross is from New Jersey, and both Yonah and Chava have roots in New York.
Gross took the job here because the opportunity was the best one, but he described the proximity to family as an incentive. Moving to Philadelphia also connects back to his ancestral roots.
“My grandmother came [to America] and left her family in Germany before the war. Her sponsoring family happened to live [in Philadelphia], and we have some distant cousins here,” he said.
Since becoming spiritual leader of the congregation at the end of 2009, Gross said that some of his most memorable moments have involved helping congregants. From the beginning, he had a good feeling about the place.
“It was a community with potential. The whole Lower Merion area had potential for growth,” Gross said.
While the synagogue might be his main focus, Gross has been with Community Kashrus of Greater Philadelphia for a long time, too.
“The first couple of years that I lived here, besides being a rabbi, I also taught at the middle school, Judaic studies. A couple of years later, this job opened up, and the job is one that really uses a lot of different skills,” he said. “[We have to] accommodate the needs of our businesses within our interpretation of Torah law, also helping to market the business and how to support it in whatever ways I can.”
Gross said that the job can be intense at moments when lots of money is at stake. He said there are deadlines for decisions that can come down to the wire. Orthodox Jews trust the organization to make decisions that will protect them and their Torah observance.
“It’s a somewhat high-visibility job, not necessarily [for me] personally, but in terms of the organization’s standards, we are relied on by about 50,000 Jews in the Philadelphia area that consider themselves kosher,” he said.
Another element of the job’s difficulty is that the nationwide equivalents to Keystone-K rely on its decisions for products made in the area.
“It has become a network [with] everybody completely intertwined, meaning we certify a factory here, so those goods are then used by another factory. The Orthodox Union is essentially relying on our certification for their needs. We have to make sure that we’re meeting the requirements of all of these different organizations across the country,” he said.
Gross is busy, but his pursuits add up to make the man.
“I do find that they all complement each other. I’m able to bring the knowledge which I’ve gained and those experiences and contacts, and I’m able to use it to help my membership,” he said. “One of the reasons I got into the synagogue rabbinate is because of the variety of experiences you have. You have a variety of ages and types of people and professions that you get to interact with. This is just an expansion of that appreciation for people,” he said.