By Crissy Pascual

Tell us about the recent “rebranding” of B’nai Israel – what's your spiel?

Most people don’t even know we’re here. It’s a surprisingly small number of people, given that we’ve been in Petaluma for 160 years. Jews showed up here in the 1850’s and organized as Society B’nai Israel, which means “children of Jacob.” They bought land that is now B’nai Israel Jewish Cemetery. 

Then there was this second iteration with the chicken farmers and they described this building as a Jewish center. These are some of the first Jewish institutions in all of Northern California. (Editor's note: the current structure at 740 Western Ave. opened its doors in August 1925.)

Those that do know we’re here seem to completely misunderstand who we are and what we do. We are unaffiliated. We are not the reform movement or a conservative movement or an orthodox movement or a renewal movement. We are an independent post-denominational center, which really works because our members are traditional, atheist, agnostic, secular, interfaith, traditional. 

We’re a cultural center and that’s for people that are Jewish or people that aren’t Jewish. People that may be part of an interfaith family. People who may just be interested in Jewish culture. We really pride ourselves on every week having at least one or two things that are music- and food-driven that aren’t prayer and study. It’s an incredible diversity that we’re creating here.

We’ve been part of this community for 160 years and we don’t want to be some little thing tucked away. We are building on the successes that we have had while adding new elements including a new website, new logo, and events over the course of the next month. So if someone has a sense that they don’t really get what this place is, well, here’s your chance to come inside and see. 

What’s your background and what led you to become a rabbi?

It was not a childhood thought at all. When I was teaching in Los Gatos, it seemed like every parent that came up to me started the conversation with, “You’re a rabbi, right?” It just seemed like – I guess, I’m supposed to be a rabbi. 

On my mother’s side I’m a sixth-generation Jew. On my dad’s side, I’m a first-generation American. He was born in Berlin and they fled with the rise of the Nazis. My stepfather was a Holocaust survivor. 

That helped me learn a lot about a disturbing history and utilize it by talking to kids about othering and what happens when we treat others as less than. Those aren’t just historical tales. Those are family stories. 

I went to State University of New York at Albany and then got my master’s from College of Saint Rose. So I’m a rabbi that studied with nuns.

My mother was an amazing Jewish educator. Whatever holiday was coming up next, that was the best one. So that meant every Friday night was special because it was Shabbat. 

How did you end up in Petaluma?

When I finished grad school, I drove out west in pursuit of these mythical green trees. A friend of a friend was in Santa Cruz so I went there then I went up to Berkeley and my van died which I took as a cosmic sign. (Ironically, it died about six blocks from where I ended up living 25 years later.) 

I moved to Seattle for two years, but I wanted to move back to California and I made a list and number two on the list was Petaluma. I had my eye on Petaluma the whole time. 

As a real lover of live music, I kept coming up to Petaluma to hear music and often lingering. It has been on my radar for 33 years. 

For eight years, I was the rabbi in Modesto. My family mostly remained in the East Bay and every week I commuted between Berkeley and Modesto. 

I was taking a long hike on Mount Diablo, trying to figure out what should come next and I heard a voice in my head say something like “Petaluma will become available.” (I had visited and met Rabbi Ted Feldman many years before this hike.) The next day, Rabbi Ted Feldman’s retirement was announced. 

I have been here for three years and there are many days that I still feel like a kid in a candy store because Petaluma is everything I knew it to be and so much more. 

Petaluma has it all. But what I didn’t know then but I know now is how friendly this town is. It’s a place where people actually care about each other and I can see so much of that reflected in the community. For example, how it’s responded knowing that many of our neighbors are not feeling safe. It would be so easy for people to say, “Let someone else do that.” But out of our 100-ish families, 25 people are involved in a task force to protect our neighbors. And that’s not a one-off. They meet constantly.

What events are coming up, and what’s your favorite holiday?

Every fall we have two holidays: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It’s a time to look inward and a time to realize what we accomplished and where we fell short. We are doing Elevate Rosh Hashanah with a full acoustic band. And that starts a 10-day process that ends on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, the day of cleansing. It’s not a sad day. It’s designed to uplift, restart, refresh. 

We’re going to start the high holidays on Friday night, Sept. 11, at 5 p.m. in our backyard. The other big event is “Sukkah Palooza” on Sept. 27. There’s literally a rain dance. It’s a procession with four sacred plant species: a palm branch, willow branch, myrtle branch, and a citrus fruit called an etrog. There are two symbols that you find all over ancient synagogue mosaics. They are the seven-branch menorah and an etrog. You see them depicted in 2000-year-old tiles. 

So anyone who wants to see us in our most earth-based celebratory mode, come for that. 

Sukkot is my favorite. As a child, I slept out in our sukkah and it was the closest we came to camping. 

What is something people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

Most people don’t know that I am completely deaf in my left ear, since I was about 23 years old. I do wish everyone knew that because if I’m in a crowded room, it’s very hard to hear and something will be said into my left ear and I won’t even know someone is talking.

But I stay pretty busy musically. I’m the drummer for the Ferris Wheels, a longtime East Bay band playing Hasidic rock. And another Berkeley-based band whose name keeps changing and we play all different genres. And here in town, our house band is Reb Shalem’s Chicken House Band. One of my happiest places is sitting behind a drum kit and listening to people play music. When people play music together or sing together or clap together, literally our breathing and our heartbeats synchronize and that’s such a wondrous experience when that happens.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Crissy Pascual is a photojournalist and co-founder of Petaluma Voice. She can be reached at photos@petalumavoice.org.