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RABBIS ORIGINALLY FROM AKRON

RABBIS ORIGINALLY FROM AKRON'S TEMPLE ISRAEL CONGREGATION

Rabbi Howard Folb   Rabbi Aaron Koplin   Rabbi Allen B. Bennett   Rabbi Sigma Faye Coran   Rabbi David Komerofsky   Rabbi Adrienne Pollock Scott

(If you have any additional information on these or any other Rabbis from Temple Israel, please forward to us.)

Rabbi Howard Folb, according to Rabbi David M. Horowitz, was a contemporary of Rabbi Horowitz. He died in Akron while in town for his father's funeral and is now buried in Akron. 

Rabbi Aaron Koplin, according to Rabbi David M. Horowitz, was ordained shortly before he was.  Rabbi Koplin is the son of Judge Nathan Koplin, who was President of Temple Israel 1954-1956 and 1964-1966.  He is now Rabbi at congregation Makom Torah in Portland, OR.

Rabbi Allen B. Bennett  - now Rabbi of Temple Israel, Alameda, California.   Ordained, HUC-JIR 1974.Rabbi Allen Bennett was born in Akron, Ohio. He attended Western Reserve University (later to be called Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he earned a B.A. with honors in Psychology in 1968. He attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform Jewish seminary) in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in 1972 and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters as well as rabbinical ordination in 1974.

Upon ordination Rabbi Bennett moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where he began a one-year residency program in Clinical Pastoral Education, leading to his certification as a hospital chaplain. He served two more years there as Jewish chaplain for the two hospitals affiliated with the Mayo Clinic, while serving as rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel, the multi-denominational synagogue in Rochester.

In 1977 Rabbi Bennett began a doctoral program at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he began work towards a Ph.D. in Theology, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. During this time he also taught courses in various Jewishly-related subjects, first at Emeritus College at the College of Marin, and later at other colleges and universities in the Bay Area.

In 1979 Rabbi Bennett was elected Rabbi at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco, where he served for the next three years. Following his service there he was appointed Assistant Director of the Northern Pacific Regional office of the American Jewish Congress, a position he held for five years, until becoming Regional Executive Director in 1989. From July, 1993 until August 1996, he served as the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, headquartered in Oakland, California. At the end of September 1996, Rabbi Bennett became the Rabbi at Temple Israel in Alameda.

Active in interfaith and other civic activities, Rabbi Bennett has also served on the Executive Board of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition of Minnesota, the Task Force on Self-Esteem of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, the Intergroup Clearinghouse, the Mayor's Committee for a Living Holocaust Memorial, the Mayor's Committee on Continuing Education against Nazism, the Conference of Black and Jewish Clergy, the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition on AIDS, the Coalition for Civil Rights, the San Francisco Conference on Religion, Race and Social Concerns, the Northern California Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Observance Committee, the San Francisco Interfaith Council, as Chair of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the Interfaith Voice for Religious Liberty, the East Bay Interfaith Coalition on HIV/AIDS, and "Yet Another Jew for Affirmative Action". He was the Jewish representative taking testimony at the U.N.- sponsored Oakland Hearings on Racism as a Violation of Human Rights and served on the Religious Service Providers Task Force of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the Board of Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group in San Francisco. In addition, Rabbi Bennett currently serves on the Alta Bates Hospital Chaplaincy Advisory Board, The Interfaith Alliance of California, the East Bay Council of Rabbis, the Editorial Council of Sequoia Magazine, the Leadership Team and the Race and Community Relations Planning Team of the FAITHS Initiative of the San Francisco Foundation, the Central Conference of American Rabbis' Commission on AIDS and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations' Regional Committee on AIDS.

Rabbi Bennett's hobbies include sailing, socio-linguistics, playing keyboard instruments, computers, music and the other fine arts.

Rabbi Sigma (Sissy) Faye Coran  - Is a 1982 confirmand of Temple Israel.  Rabbi Coran was featured in the September/October 2004 issue of Cincy Jewish Living.  In July 2004 she was named the first female spiritual leader of Rockdale Temple, the fourth oldest American congregation.  She has served congregations in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Then In 1994 Rabbi Coran, became the second woman to serve as assistant rabbi of Temple Emanuel - Worcester, Massachusetts.  She also was on staff at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  She has been active in a variety of social action organizations.  She and her husband, Rabbi Matthew Kraus, have three children Jacob, Shirah, and Micah. 

Rabbi David Komerofsky  Rabbi David Komerofsky is Dean of Students and Director of the Rabbinical School in Cincinnati, and has been a member of the HUC-JIR administration and instructional staff since his ordination.  has been appointed Executive Director of the Texas Hillel at UT Austin, effective January 16, 2006.

With 4,000 Jewish students on campus, Texas Hillel has emerged as a dynamic programmatic presence at UT, earning recognition for excellence in student activities such as the Israel Block Party, Month of Kindness, and Alternative Spring Break to Argentina.  Texas has also gained national visibility for its pro-Israel advocacy work, teaching students how to be Israel activists and sending them to Israel in record numbers.

Timed to coincide with Komerofsky’s arrival in Austin is the opening of Texas Hillel’s new Center for Jewish Life – an 18,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility adjacent to the UT campus. The organization raised $6 million to successfully complete the capital initiative, and is now working to establish a significant endowment fund.

Previously, Rabbi Komerofsky served as Dean of Students and Director of the Rabbinical School in Cincinnati, and was a member of the HUC-JIR administration and instructional staff since his ordination. Duties included overseeing the rabbinical school curriculum and coordinating student pulpits and senior placement.

Rabbi Komerofsky is a student in the School of Graduate Studies, pursuing a D.H.L. in Rabbinic Literature.

Rabbi Adrienne Pollock Scott is Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Houston, Texas, effective June 2005.  Ordained Saturday, June 5, 2004 at Plum Street Temple at the 121st ordination ceremony of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), Cincinnati.  Rabbi Scott is the daughter of Charlotte & Bob (Robert F. Pollock, Temple President 1996-1998) Pollock. She is married to David Scott.  

    HUC-JIR - Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion 

    CCAR - Central Conference of American Rabbis

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