Rabbi Judy Greenfeld Rabbi/Cantor Judy Greenfeld has always been a spiritual visionary.
In 2005, she founded Nachshon Minyan, an unaffiliated minyan without walls. Services are held in different indoor and outdoor locations as well as livestreamed for members at home.
“I wanted to be what the big synagogues couldn’t offer, which was a more inclusive and flexible way to enter into Judaism,” she said. “I wanted this kind of Judaism, so I made a pact with God: If 10 people keep showing up, I’ll keep doing this. Ten kept showing up, and more came, every year.”
Greenfeld’s spiritual journey began when she was a child growing up in a Conservative Jewish home in Cleveland, Ohio. She went to Hebrew school four days a week, all the way through high school, and lived in a lively Jewish community. Her father was the vice president of the Zionist Organization of America.
“There was a strong pride around being Jewish in my home,” she said.
She had no desire to become a rabbi and cantor, but events that unfolded in her life that led to her wanting to connect more with her faith.
When she was 16, her father was murdered in Cleveland. Her parents went downtown to see a show, and three teenagers held them up at gunpoint; one of them shot and killed her father.
“My world turned upside down, and I was very angry at God,” she said. “How could God have let this happen when we were this nice family growing up in suburbia? How could this have happened?”
For years, Greenfeld explored other religions for solace.
“I looked into Buddhism and different types of spirituality at the time,” she said. “I searched everywhere, especially in yoga, meditation and psychology. Then, I remember sitting in a meditation class, and they asked me to find my Christ consciousness. I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t have that.’ I needed to find out about what Judaism had to say about tragedy and look for the beauty in my religion.”
At first, Greenfeld didn’t understand how rabbis and cantors could be so immersed in prayer. This curiosity kicked off her journey to becoming part of the rabbinate herself.
“How could they be so engaged in services for four hours? What kind of spirituality did they tune into? Because I’d like to know about it.”
“I needed to know what was so exciting to rabbis and cantors that I wasn’t understanding,” she said. “How could they be so engaged in services for four hours? What kind of spirituality did they tune into? Because I’d like to know about it.”
When Greenfeld was 40 years old and married with two children, she decided it was time to seek out the answers and connect with her Jewish heritage on a deeper level. In 2004, she became ordained as a cantor at Academy for Jewish Religion, California.
“I loved to sing and I knew all the prayers,” she said.
For eight years, Greenfeld worked as the second invested cantor at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills in the New Emanuel minyan, an alternative minyan there. While she enjoyed her work, what she really wanted to do was start her own minyan – which is how Nachshon came about.
“Judaism was built without walls under the idea of the mishkan,” she said. “My congregants want an immersion that isn’t just brick and mortar. I felt very motivated to provide that.”
After 11 years of running Nachshon as a cantor, in 2016, she decided to go back to AJRCA and become a rabbi, too. Today, Greenfeld understands what all those cantors and rabbis were so excited about. Judaism not only provides her with a meaningful connection to God, her community and herself, but it also helps her process the misfortune she’s experienced in life.
“Torah is my complete inspiration,” she said. “I went through a tragedy at 16 and I got divorced in 2014, which felt like a tragedy unto itself. Learning Torah and committing myself to my Jewish lifestyle and community make me get up in the morning. It’s really in my heart to be giving and sharing. I love being part of this Jewish continuity and lineage.”
Fast Takes with Judy Greenfeld
Jewish Journal: What is your favorite Jewish food?
Judy Greenfeld: Kasha varnishkes. And also matzo ball soup.
JJ: What career would you have if you weren’t a rabbi?
JG: Nothing. Being a rabbi and cantor is who I really am.
JJ: What yoga position do you like the best?
JG: It’s the hardest one for me to do, but I love the tree. When I do the tree position to stabilize myself, it’s so primal. My body is the trunk of that tree, and I root myself so deeply in the earth. I can feel the life force.
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