Rabbi Jonathan Aaron: Theater Paved His Route

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron’s background is rich with theatrical experiences, but he leaves no doubt where his feet and his heart are planted. After 27 years at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills — the only congregation he has served — he told the Journal in his resonant, theater-trained voice, “I am a rabbi 100% … but I understand how to make a moment.” 

That wasn’t always the case. Nearly a decade passed after his graduation from Emerson College’s theater program before he entered rabbinic school. His natural inclination was to act. “I was teaching theater and living all over the country,” he explained, “running around, doing whatever I needed to do. Part of the issue was I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was writing, I was directing, and I was doing acting.” It was satisfying, but not remunerative. “The other side of me was a singer/songwriter – that whole world of James Taylor and Paul Simon,” he  said. “I was connected to the Jewish community as a song leader. I was doing retreats all over the country and weeklong camps. As person of theatre, not making money, being a song leader was a great way to make money because it was on a weekend. I always had my foot in the Jewish community.”

Music and Judaism, he said, were stressed in his family. The youngest of three brothers — all musicians and teachers, two of them rabbis – Aaron grew up around Hartford, Conn. Music was such a big part of his family, he believes that in another time, his mother would have been a cantor. Born in Monheim, Germany, the daughter of Hugo Chaim Adler, “a pretty famous composer in Reform circles,” she was eight when her family fled the Nazis in January 1939. “I love America because it saved my mother’s life, really,” he said. 

But the most defining moment in the rabbi’s adult life occurred in a conversation with his brother, Rabbi David Aaron of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. He was writing kids’ educational television shows when David told him “If you want clout when you walk into a room with these shows, why don’t you think about getting a Master’s in Jewish education?”

He did, but there was a wrinkle. “As I went through there I said, ‘I don’t know anything. I need to learn more. I will stay another three years and get a rabbinic degree, which I will always have, no matter what I end up doing.’”

What he loved about Judaism, both while working on his Master’s and later in rabbinical school, was the studying, the creative interpretation. He was intrigued “by the idea that the Biblical text is a diving board, and you dive into a sea of commentaries. It’s not telling you what it means. It’s up to you, creatively, to figure out what it is. I took those same techniques and used them in my Torah study.”

“It’s about how you find your life in this text. In that way, I believe that theater prepared me for the creative endeavor of Torah study.” 

He says it all comes down to creative endeavor and expression. “It’s about how you find your life in this text,” he said. “In that way, I believe that theater prepared me for the creative endeavor of Torah study.” He found that when he was in rabbinic school, “it is all in your head.” But when he was singing with youth groups, it was all about what’s in your heart. So these days he is guided by a combination of head and heart, and a desire to be intellectually honest — but with his heart leading the way. His heart is buttressed by his family: His wife, actress Michelle Azar, and their two daughters. 

Post-pandemic, he said, things are completely different. “We are trying to figure out what people need now … A lot of it comes down to allowing a person to have his or her own expressive entrance into Judaism. How can we create a safe environment so people feel as if they have permission to express themselves without being ridiculed or being judged.”  

Has Rabbi Aaron been able to entice his congregation back to Temple Emanuel?  It’s a mixed bag. He has encountered congregants who have been at Emanuel for 60 years, but didn’t come to services much. Amazingly, they told him they hadn’t missed a pandemic online service in three years. Every Friday night, they log on for services, “so in that way they are connecting to prayer a lot more than before.” He also noted that his Introduction to Judaism class is half again larger than before. “One of the greatest things a rabbi gets to do,” Aaron said, “is teach someone who doesn’t know much about Judaism, and turn them onto it.” 

Fast Takes with Rabbi Jonathan Aaron

Jewish Journal: What is your favorite Jewish food?

Rabbi Aaron: Matzoh ball soup – although my mom’s brisket is right up there. Her cupcakes are third.

JJ: Your favorite music?

Rabbi Aaron: All kinds of music. If there is one thing I don’t listen to, it’s hip-hop. I listen to everything from the Ting Tings to James Taylor to classical. My favorite moment though is, if my wife is around and my daughter is around, we play and sing.

JJ: What book is on your night table?

Rabbi Aaron: “Genesis Ideology,” written by my brother, Rabbi David Aaron.