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Mazel Tov Rabbi! and Appreciation, All the Best, Perlow & Wanatick Fa M I L Ies the Eisenman Family

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Mazel Tov Rabbi! and Appreciation, All the Best, Perlow & Wanatick Fa M I L Ies the Eisenman Family Anniversary On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael, we welcome you as we Celebrate and Honor Rabbi David J. Nesson for 25 years of service, as our Spiritual Leader, at this Gala Affair. Donna Gross & Dorothy Cohen Dinner Co-Chairs We wish to thanK the following for their help and support to maKe this Gala event a success. Sharon Barkauskas Irving Cohen Richard Gaskins Tamara Goldberg Gerry Gross Karen Gooen Eddie Levy Ellen Nesson Linda Rosenbaum Flo Sager Lew Stone RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY The International Association of Conservative / Masorti Rabbis, established 1901 3080 Broadway January 3, 2014/2 Shevat 5774 New York, NY 10027 Phone 212.280.6000 Fax 212.749.9166 [email protected] To the Membership of the Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael: www.rabbinicalassembly.org It is with regret that I am unable to join you in celebrating Rabbi Nesson’s 25 years of devoted service to the Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael. My respect and great affection for Rabbi Nesson extends over the many years of our friendship. President Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik Knowing of his many contributions to your congregation and the larger community my admiration for him only continues to increase. Vice President Rabbi William G. Gershon Rabbi is a sacred, privileged title. It suggests learning and piety. It presupposes Treasurer Rabbi Philip S. Scheim integrity and the capacity for leadership. David Nesson embodies these traits in every dimension of his distinguished rabbinate and carries the title “Rabbi” with Financial Secretary Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin your regard for him as your teacher, friend, and welcome presence in the times of Secretary Rabbi Stewart L. Vogel joy and challenge you have experienced together. I know that you call him “Rabbi” joy and gratitude for the honor of being the spiritual leader of your congregation. Executive Vice President Rabbi Julie Schonfeld Above all, because David Nesson is such a mentsch, he fully understands that the success he has enjoyed in his rabbinate is the result of the partnership he shares with Associate Executive Director Rabbi Elliot Salo Schoenberg all of you. The partnership has been enhanced by the members of the entire Nesson family who have been such an integral part of the life of your congregation. I wish Senior Consultant for Rabbinic and Institutional Leadership you all great joy and satisfaction as you celebrate 25 extraordinary years together. Rabbi William H. Lebeau Director of Special Projects Rabbi Jan Caryl Kaufman Shalom, Associate Director of Rabbinic Services Rabbi William H. Lebeau Rabbi Ashira Y. Konigsburg Senior Consultant for Rabbinic and Institutional Leadership, Rabbinical Assembly Executive Vice Presidents Emeriti Rabbi Joel H. Meyers Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, " Founding Editor Rabbi Jules E. Harlow RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY The International Association of Conservative / Masorti Rabbis, established 1901 3080 Broadway January 10, 2014 New York, NY 10027 9 Shevat 5774 Phone 212.280.6000 Fax 212.749.9166 [email protected] Tribute Committee www.rabbinicalassembly.org Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael 177 Speedwell Avenue Morristown, New Jersey 07960 Dear Friends, President We are proud to congratulate Rabbi David Nesson on the well-deserved Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik occasion of Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael’s celebration of his 25 years of service to the community. Vice President Rabbi William G. Gershon Rabbi Nesson has long been known as a warm, caring, and active Treasurer leader and member of the community. During his extensive tenure at Rabbi Philip S. Scheim MJCBY he has served as a mentor and friend to countless Jews, and his Financial Secretary devotion to the synagogue has been matched by his other commitments Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin to Jewish and communal life. Rabbi Nesson has advised and volunteered for the local Jewish Federation, a Jewish funeral home, and the Rabbinical Secretary Rabbi Stewart L. Vogel Assembly’s New Jersey region; he has also devoted himself to organizations promoting religious pluralism, Jewish education, and social justice activism. His extensive commitments have been recognized widely, as indicated by his selection as a Shalom Hartman Institute Rabbinic Fellow and other honors. Executive Vice President Rabbi Julie Schonfeld feat of achievement and we join the entire MJCBY community in celebrating Associate Executive Director Rabbi Nesson’s contribution to the vitality of the synagogue and of the wider Rabbi Elliot Salo Schoenberg community. We also extend our heartfelt congratulations to his wife, Ellen, Senior Consultant for Rabbinic and his children Leora and William, who have provided love and support for and Institutional Leadership so many years. Rabbi William H. Lebeau Yashar Koach, Rabbi Nesson—may you and your family go from strength Director of Special Projects Rabbi Jan Caryl Kaufman to strength in service to the Jewish people, and may this celebration be a harbinger of joyous occasions yet to come. Associate Director of Rabbinic Services Rabbi Ashira Y. Konigsburg Executive Vice Presidents Emeriti Rabbi Joel H. Meyers Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, " Founding Editor Gerald C. Skolnik Julie Schonfeld Rabbi Jules E. Harlow RABBI DAVID JOSEPH NESSON Rabbi David Nesson was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He, along with his twin and older brother, grew up in a family steeped in Jewish tradition. As a child, he attended Kehailath Israel Synagogue, at the time one of the largest synagogues in New England. That synagogue has both the distinct honor of being located across the street from the birthplace of JFK, as well as being the ‘birthplace’ of more Conservative Rabbis than any synagogue in the country. Rabbi Nesson’s love of Judaism was nurtured by his large family and through the congregational youth groups and programs. His parents were active members of the congregation. At that time, Brookline had a large Jewish population and to this day, there is a significant Jewish presence and flavor to that town. While attending Brookline High School, he also attended the Prozdor High School of Boston’s Hebrew Teacher’s College and helped lead Junior Congregation and High Holiday services for Jewish War Veterans. At Brookline High School he played JV basketball, ran track and field events, (for a time he held the state record in the triple jump), acted in high school productions and sang in the choir. After graduation, he continued his studies at the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of classes held at Boston College, Harvard and Boston Universities and then at Brandeis University. At Brandeis he majored in Near Eastern and Judaic studies, minoring in psychology and theater arts. During the course of his studies, he had the opportunity to study with leading Jewish scholars, including Eli Weisel, Marvin Fox, Nachum Sarna, Michael Fishbane and Marshall Sklare with whom he wrote his honors thesis. During his years at Brandeis, he also performed with Boston’s Zamir Chorale, a Jewish community choir housed at Boston University and conducted by Josh Jacobson. During his junior year at Brandeis, Rabbi Nesson went to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where his older brother who made Aliyah upon his graduation from Boston University, was studying and teaching. During that year, Rabbi Nesson fell in love with Israel and after many lengthy conversations with his brother and sister-in-law determined that upon his return home, he would study for the Rabbinate. Rabbi Nesson graduated Brandeis University Magna Cum Laude and was the recipient of several academic awards in Hebrew Language and Near Eastern studies. It was then that he became involved with Camp Ramah, the Conservative camping movement. He was a counselor, assistant division head and division head of Machon, the division for the oldest campers. During his summers at Camp Ramah, he developed a variety of Tikkun Olam projects for his campers, which took place both in and out of camp. It was here that he met Ellen, who was the division head of the youngest age group. He was accepted to the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York, where he began his rabbinical studies. While in Rabbinical school, he took on the positions of Rabbinical Intern for the National UJA Rabbinic Cabinet as well as University Cabinet. From this position, Rabbi Nesson learned the importance of the UJA work in local and worldwide communities and the responsibilities that Rabbis’ have to their congregation and their community. He also took on the role of student Rabbi in Huntsville, Alabama, where he traveled each month for two years, leading services, teaching school and running youth programs. He was afforded the opportunity to spend a second year in Israel, studying at the Schechter Institute and the Graduate School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It was in Israel that he and Ellen became engaged; they married upon their return to the US. He earned his Master’s Degree in Jewish Education as well as being ordained from JTS in 1983, where he presented the Graduation Address. He accepted the position of Rabbi at Agudath Israel Synagogue in Montgomery, Alabama upon his Ordination. While in Alabama, he was involved in the daily life of the congregation, the community and its Civic Programs. He was President of the Montgomery Interfaith Clergy Council, appeared on television programs explaining Jewish Holidays, and taught Biblical Hebrew and the history of the Bible at Huntington College. He also served as a part time Chaplain at the Maxwell Federal prison and liaison with the US Air War College to the Jewish community. The Governor, Guy Hunt, appointed him to work with then Alabama Secretary of State, Don Seigilman, on the Alabama State Anti-Drug Commission. During his years in Alabama, Rabbi Nesson also became involved with the plight of Soviet Jewry and joined the Soviet Jewry Coalition of Christians and Jews.
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