When she stepped up to the pulpit of Congregation Kol Ami on July 1, Rabbi Lindy Reznick, “a big-city girl” who spent the last five years in small-town Redlands, was sure this is where she belonged.

For the last three years it has been nearly impossible to secure a seat in Rabbi Daniel Levine’s course on major Jewish texts. Even so, UC Irvine chose not to renew his contract last spring.

The Lebovitzes and Goldberg-Polins have been friends for more than a decade

“The only way we Jews can grow and survive is by bringing new people into Judaism and the Jewish people.”

In 2010, when Rabbi Joel Rembaum retired after leading Temple Beth Am — his childhood synagogue — for 25 years, it felt like the end of an era. It was also the start of a new one.

He’s a globetrotting mohel, serves as a dayan (judge of a Jewish court) and he launched the Jewish French Community Center.

Clearly, she loves her chosen path.