Clergy : Rabbi Wayne M. Franklin, Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Franklin has been the Senior Rabbi at Emanu-El since 1981. He is a
1965 graduate of Yeshiva University and was ordained as a rabbi at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970. Rabbi Franklin is eager
to make Judaism accessible to everyone, through services, classes and
programs that cater to members’ varying skills, interests and needs.
Rabbi Franklin loves to teach and conducts classes for people of all
ages, from Tefillah for Preschoolers in our Religious School to Talmud
for adults in the Koffler-Bornstein Institute of Jewish Studies. In
addition to teaching, Rabbi Franklin meets pastorally with members and
helps them through times of transition in their lives. Rabbi Franklin
has been active in both the Jewish community and beyond, having served
as chair of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of
RI, and has chaired the Rhode Island Interfaith Commemoration of the
Holocaust for over twenty years. He is a member of the Board of
Governors of the Miriam Hospital and is a member of the Hospital’s
Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Mayor’s Task Force on Prisoner
Re-entry and has been a leader in various interfaith endeavors,
including the Rabbis and Priests Dialogue and the Abrahamic Accord. He
currently chairs the Publications Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly,
the international association of Conservative Rabbis. He was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the Seminary in 1996. He was the
recipient of the Jewish Federation’s Never Again Award in 2003, and is a
recipient of the 2004 NCCJ Interfaith Leadership Award. He feels that
Jewish involvement in the community at large is an important avenue for
helping to make our world better for all people. Most important, he
believes that the more Jews learn about our tradition, the more likely
they are to become involved in Jewish life and in strengthening the
congregation and community. To email Rabbi Franklin, wfranklin@teprov.org.
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Clergy : Rabbi Joel Seltzer
Rabbi Joel Seltzer hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he
spent his early years attending a local Conservative synagogue and
attending Camp Ramah in the Poconos. For his undergraduate studies Rabbi
Seltzer attended Florida State university where he majored in History
and Religion. In May of 2008 he was ordained by the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America where he was nominated by his classmates to deliver
the commencement address. Rabbi Seltzer is responsible for many programs
at Temple Emanu-El such as helping to conduct Sabbath and Holiday
Services, facilitating our Adult Institute, supervising Family
Programming, as well as working in close tandem with Miriam Abrams-Stark
in overseeing all aspects of the Religious School. He is an extremely
enthusiastic teacher who seeks to make his passion for the richness of
Jewish life contagious to one and all. In addition to his rabbinic
interests, Rabbi Seltzer is also an accomplished musician who loves to
write and play music for several different instruments. He is the proud father of two daughters, Ayelet and Talia. He can be
reached at jseltzer@teprov.org. |
Clergy : Cantor Brian J. Mayer, Hazzan
Brian J. Mayer, cantor of Temple Emanu-El since 1989, reorganized the
Temple Choir, founded the Choral Club, Kol Kesem Teen Choir, and the
Junior Choir, helped foster the Kol Klezmer Band, and established a
reputation for innovative, artistic, and participatory, congregant-based
concerts. He conducted the adult choirs at the North American Jewish
Choral Festival and Kol Kesem at the annual Hazamir Teen Choral Festival
in New York’s Lincoln Center. A recognized scholar of hazzanut
(cantorial music), he taught for 14 years at the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York as assistant professor of hazzanut and was featured
in the nationally televised ABC-TV documentary “To God’s Ear,” which
was nominated for an Emmy Award. A lecturer at synagogues and
conferences throughout the United States, he holds a Doctor of Sacred
Music degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was awarded
the Seminary’s Arthur Einstein Prize for composition. To email Cantor
Mayer, bjmayer@teprov.org.
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Clergy : Alvan H. Kaunfer, Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Alvan H. Kaunfer is a Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Emanu-El, after serving the
Temple and Jewish Community for 33 years. Rabbi Kaunfer continues his
special interest in education by teaching a weekly Parashah class and
continuing his research in midrash. In addition, Rabbi Kaunfer serves as
an educational consultant to a number of schools, and he teaches
courses in Jewish Education at the
Davidson
School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and at
Hebrew
College in
Boston . Rabbi Kaunfer was also the founding Director of the
Alperin
Schechter
Day School in
Providence . He is a graduate of
Brandeis
University ,
Teachers’ College of
Columbia University, and he was ordained at the Jewish Theological
Seminary, from which institution he also holds a Doctoral degree in
Education. Rabbi Kaunfer He has published articles on education and on
midrash in several professional journals and books. Rabbi Kaunfer is married to Marcia Lapidus Kaunfer and he has two sons, Elie and Oren and two granddaughters.
He can be reached at akaunfer@cox.net
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