Joe Rooks Rapport
Rabbi Emeritus
Biography
Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport has served The Temple since 1988. He has taught in a variety of adult education classes, as well as teaching the Religious School’s sixth-grade class and the High School of Jewish Studies, guiding The Temple Confirmation Class, and working closely with Bar and Bat Mitzvah students. Each summer, he serves on the Faculty at Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Indiana. He oversaw many congregational programs, serving as rabbinic liaison for the Brotherhood, the Temple Archives, and The Temple Library, among others.
In the community at large, Rabbi Rapport offers courses in Jewish theology at Bellarmine University and is often called upon to speak throughout the city. He was on the original planning committee for the new Rauch Planetarium and has served as chair of its Advisory Board. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Committee of the University of Louisville and is involved in various interfaith and social action activities. He and Rabbi Rooks share a seat on the Board of Directors of the Center for Interfaith Relations, He is past chair of the Louisville Coalition for the Homeless, and Many People – One Community, a diversity project of the NCCJ.
Within the Jewish community, he has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Community Federation, as president of the Kentucky Board of Rabbis and Cantors, and is a past chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council. Nationally, he has been a contributor to Reform Voices of Torah, a national Torah Study of the Union for Reform Judaism, and he was the chair of the Computers and Technology Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He has produced a variety of Hebrew Educational Software for publication and use in The Temple Religious School.
Rabbi Rapport received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History in 1988 from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Arts in History from the same University in 1986. He is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where he was ordained in June of 1984. He received his Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from the Los Angeles campus of HUC, prior to which he spent a full year in Israel at the College’s campus in Jerusalem. In June 2009, the Hebrew Union College conferred a Doctor of Divinity honoris causa upon him in recognition of his 25 years in the rabbinate. In 2012, Rabbi Rapport received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Centre College for his work at The Temple and the community at large. He has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Louisville and Bellarmine University as well.
Rabbi Rapport is married to Rabbi Gaylia R. Rooks, Rabbi Emerita at The Temple. They are parents of Rabbi Yael Rapport, who is married to David Moser, and Lev Rooks-Rapport, who is a Doctoral Student at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Rabbis Rapport and Rooks have two grandchildren, James Matar and Rose Aviv who they love dearly.
A Brief Statement from Rabbi Rapport
Having grown up in a small congregation in Northern Michigan, I am acutely aware of the joys and challenges of Jewish life in a small town far away from the resources and support of a larger Jewish community. For Judaism to survive and flourish it requires a hands-on, hearts in commitment or it simply will wither away.
My years of service on Faculty at Goldman Union Camp Institute have only broadened my commitment to the future of Jewish life in America’s heartland of the Midwest and South. Every summer at GUCI we create a kehilah kedoshah, a sacred community in the woods with Jewish youth from congregations large and small from all across our region. And every summer the children of our small towns and smaller congregations bring a special joy in becoming a part of a wider community of friends and faith. I remember that feeling as a foundation of my faith and my commitment to become a rabbi.
Serving in a small congregation, leading services for the High Holy Days allows me to share the gifts of Jewish learning that I have been blessed to receive through the support of the Union for Reform Judaism and give back to the Jewish communities who are our roots and our greatest purpose.
Gaylia R. Rooks
Gaylia R. RooksBiography
Rabbi Gaylia R. Rooks is Rabbi Emerita of The Temple Congregation Adath Israel Brith Sholom, Kentucky’s oldest and largest synagogue, where she served for 30 years. Her specialties were Music, Women’s Programming, and Interfaith Relations. She is the Founder of Shelter of Peace, a not-for-profit, non-denominational community of welcome that provides educational, spiritual, justice, social, and healing experiences. Rabbi Rooks is seen regularly on “Moral Side of the News,” the WHAS-TV Interfaith Panel which is broadcast locally and nationally on television and radio. She also serves on the clergy allocations committee of the “WHAS Crusade For Children,” the largest independent charitable fundraising organization in America, distributing about six million dollars annually for special needs children in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. In 2012, she released her second collection of original Jewish music on CD, Sukkat Shalom: Shelter of Peace by Driven Leaf.
Rabbi Rooks is a graduate of Brandeis University (1979), received her MAHL from the Hebrew Union College (LA, 1982), Ordination from the Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati, 1984), and a Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Care from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (2000). In 2009 the Hebrew Union College conferred a Doctor of Divinity upon her in recognition of 25 years in the rabbinate. In 2012, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Centre College for her work in The Temple Congregation and the community at large.
Rabbi Rooks is married to Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport, who was her co-Senior Rabbi at The Temple. They are the parents of two awesome children, Rabbi Yael and Lev, and have two adorable grandchildren.
Entrances to Holiness
There are entrances to holiness everywhere. The birth of a child, the bar mitzvah of a son, the ordination of a daughter, weddings and funerals, festivals, fasts, and feasts. That’s one reason I wanted to become a rabbi — people allow me the opportunity to experience with them precious entrances to holiness.
I went to Brandeis and then on to seminary where I learned that not only Torah, but every Hebrew letter is an entrance into holiness. Every word contains worlds and power and mystery. I was ordained in 1984 and served a congregation where I was paid to be a Mentsch. People wanted, expected me to be caring and righteous. They entrusted me with tzedakah and I was blessed to be part of their mitzvah of healing the world.
Entrances to holiness are everywhere. I have tried to serve G!D, and the people of Israel, and the world at large, for my entire adult life. I was called to the rabbinate when I was in 10th grade. Sally Priesand had not yet been ordained as the first woman rabbi. In early 1972, when I wrote to HUC to ask if they would accept me as a student, they had Sally write back. I outlined my life journey for her: attend Brandeis University, double major in Judaic Studies and Psychology, spend my junior year in Israel, and apply to rabbinical school. In spite of her gentle and reasonable suggestion to reconsider this path every step along the way, I have never veered from my original plan.
Entrances to holiness are everywhere. And now, after 40 years of the active rabbinate, although I perhaps can no longer meet the rigors of that 60-80 hour a week schedule, I still feel blessed and still feel called to help serve G!D and the Jewish people. I know that there are entrances to holiness everywhere and am excited to discover new, sacred opportunities to serve, to learn, and to walk the path of holiness with others.
Temple Israel Rabbis and Student Rabbis
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