Rabbis for Rent

If, like 82 percent of American Jewry, you are unaffiliated
with a temple or synagogue, but still desire a rabbi to officiate at your
special occasion, then telecommunications engineer David Segal of Phoenix, Ariz.,
has designed a Web site just for you.

The site is www.Rabbirentals.com, and once you log on, you can
use your credit card to rent a rabbi, who will then rock up to your door and
invoke the necessary blessings to make your special occasion a religious one.
Be it weddings, bar mitzvahs, house blessings or funerals, Rabbirentals.com has
rabbis for all special moments, at a variety of prices. While the site does not
list any of the rabbis by name, it does give some biographical details, so you can
choose between a rabbi who was “formerly a corporate executive, [who] entered
rabbinic school at the age of 30,” and one who “earned his license as an
Israeli desert guide.”

Segal said he started the site when he and his friends, all
of whom were unaffiliated with a temple, started discussing how convenient it
would be if there was a Web site where they could access a rabbi’s services
without having to incur any of the membership costs involved with joining a
temple. Segal, who was involved with United Jewish Communities, started using
his contacts to amass a list of rabbis who would be willing to be rented and
had the site up and running by January 2002.

Currently, the site has 54 rabbis of all denominations
listed, and by using Rabbirentals.com one can rent rabbis who will officiate at
services all across America. So far, 48 customers have used the services of the
site, and the site gets 200-400 hits a day.

While Segal has taken a battering from some rabbis who fear
that his site will draw Jews away from temples and synagogues, he feels that
once people have a connection with a rabbi, they might actually be inspired to
join the temple.

“I just created an opportunity for a more cost-effective
means for someone to attain a rabbi,” he said.