ABOUT OUR NEW STUDENT RABBI….

 

Student Rabbi Beni Wajnberg, 23 years old, was born in Niterói, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and grew up in Rio.  He attended a Jewish Day school there, and while in college, taught high school classes in his alma mater.  He has a B.A. cum laude in Psychology from the Rio de Janeiro Federal University.  During his studies, he specialized in Thanatology (the study of death and of the process of dying) and Grief, by participating in a research group, and working in a hospice.  For two years, he served a retirement home affiliated with the Reform temple in Rio de Janeiro as their spiritual and religious leader. He also worked as a pastoral care giver in the same institution.  Following his graduation in 2009, he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he studied for a brief period in the Conservative seminary. During that time, he worked in one of the many Conservative congregations in Buenos Aires, as well as in the Argentinian countryside during the High Holidays in a very small congregation.

 

 After successfully applying and being interviewed in Cincinnati, he moved from Argentina to Jerusalem, Israel, for his first year of rabbinic studies at HUC. Now, a year later, Beni is about to move to the US – not without taking his love of Israel along with him. After a year living in Jerusalem, he is even more sure of the central place that the Land and the State of Israel holds for Jews living in communities worldwide.

 

This summer, Beni is working at GUCI, a URJ Reform summer camp in Zionsville, IN, and then he will be moving to Cincinnati, OH to continue his rabbinic studies. From there, he will be visiting the B'nai Sholom periodically. Beni is really excited about this upcoming experience and is looking forward to teaching and learning from the community. He is sure that it will be a positive and growthful year for everyone.

 

Beni loves to cook and paint, and is a big fan of modern Jewish thought and Jewish mysticism. Starting now, he wants to extend an invitation to anyone from the B'nai Sholom community who might be visiting Cincinnati to stop by for dinner, and is already available through his e-mail bwajnberg@gmail.com for any inquiries, comments, and messages.