Congregation Beth-El

Serving Southeast Nassau and Southwest Suffolk Counties

Rabbi Jonathan Waxman

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Rabbi Jonathan Waxman, formerly of Elberon, New Jersey, has returned to his Long Island roots after a 25-year absence to become the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth-El in Massapequa. Rabbi looks forward to establishing relationships with his local colleagues and new congregants, as well as creating innovative educational opportunities. 

        Rabbi Waxman assumed the pulpit of Congregation Beth-El just before the start of the High Holy Days, September, 2002. He hopes to share his love of learning with the members of his new congregation family. Like a proud but modest father, he boasts that his former congregation came out for adult education programs in much larger numbers than any other synagogue and hopes that his record of success will continue here. 

        While not yet sure what innovative programs he will develop for Beth-El, at B’nai Sholom his repertoire included interactive Talmud and Bible study; monthly “Bagels with the Rabbi” which covered topics in Jewish history; “Books before the Beach”; and the congregation’s favorite: “Gourmet Shabbat with Chef Waxman.” Congregants of Beth-El have already been treated to monthly cooking classes, “Bagels with the Rabbi,” and he has begun periodic Jewish history sessions. 

        Rabbi Jonathan Waxman comes from a long line of scholars. He is the son of the recently deceased, Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, the pillar of Great Neck’s Temple Israel for more than 50 years and one of the most respected scholars, leaders, and rabbis the Conservative Jewish movement has ever produced. Jonathan Waxman’s grandfather, Meyer Waxman, graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1913 and published more than 20 books, and his great-grandfather was also an ordained rabbi. His mother, Ruth, who passed away six years ago, received her doctorate in literature – a very rare occurrence for a woman the 1930s. She taught for many years at Adelphi University and C.W. Post. 

        The eldest of three Waxman brothers -- David, a rare book dealer, and Hillel, a senior vice president for Bank Leumi, both brothers living in Great Neck -- Jonathan is the only rabbi. Having earned his own place as a pulpit rabbi and scholar in the Conservative movement, he is not concerned with living in the shadow of his father. “To some [in the movement] I’ll always be ‘Mordy’s son,’ but I have forged my own identity and made my distinct contributions to the movement,” he said. 

        In fact, Rabbi Jonathan Waxman has published numerous articles. Many of his sermons have been selected for Torah Fax, a distribution of sermons to the rabbinic community. He has spearheaded ecumenical inter-faith study programs, taught children, adults, converts, and other rabbis, founded the Shore Hebrew High School, and was a regular presenter in inter-congregational lecture series. He joked that his father would even ask him for sermon ideas once in a while, though he admits those occasions were rare.  

        He and his father began collaborating on a book that would follow the development of the Conservative movement from the 1950s to the present. This book was intended to be a sequel to Tradition and Change: The Development of Conservative Judaism, written by the senior Waxman in 1958. Rabbi Jonathan Waxman was looking forward to 35-minute trips to visit and work with his father rather than the hour and a half to two hours it often took from New Jersey. The excitement of his relocation to Massapequa in August was stifled by the untimely death of his father less than one week before his move. He plans to forge ahead with the new book. “Now, instead of two voices, it will have a single voice, but the book will continue and it will be a memorial to my father,” he said. 

        But Jonathan Waxman brings more than scholarship to Congregation Beth-El. Known for his warm, personal style and sense of humor, he relishes reaching out to his congregants. This component of rabbinical life is what drew him to and kept him in the rabbinate in the first place.  

        Starting out as a political science major at Brandeis University, Waxman intended to go into the field of international relations. But a year of study in Israel led him to the Jewish Theological Seminary to pursue a doctorate in Jewish history and what he thought would be the life of an academic. Following his ordination, he decided to take a break from studying and “get a job.” He was hired as the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Sholom in West End, New Jersey in 1977 and never left. “I discovered that I enjoyed interacting with people. Being part of and touching people’s lives is very meaningful,” he said. 

        Rabbi Waxman’s favorite holiday is Passover because it is “rich in symbolism and tradition.” He collects rare Haggadahs from around the world. His two most cherished ones are an early 19^th century Haggadah from Amsterdam and a hand-written one from Yemen.  To relax he enjoys reading science fiction including Star Trek novels that take him “where no man has gone before.”  

        Passing out candy to the children during Shabbat and the fall holidays, as well as to the adults who receive special honors during a service, has become a new tradition in Massapequa.

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