Join us for this special joint Sunday School event! Rabbi Brian Leiken (he/him), Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, will share his reflections on God, human suffering, and the possibility of compassion.
The prophet Jonah tried to run from the world's pain. He went down to the bottom of a ship and then into the belly of a fish. Rabbi Brian Leiken of Congregation Beth Israel asks what that belly can become. Drawing on Abraham Joshua Heschel's idea of divine pathos, the belief that God feels the suffering of the world, he explores how our own pain can open us instead of closing us off.
The Jewish people learned this in Egypt. Having been strangers, we were commanded never to oppress the stranger. Again and again, suffering became the thing that taught us to recognize suffering in others. Rabbi Leiken speaks honestly about the temptation to retreat after October 7, including his own, and about the harder work of letting grief make us more attuned to others rather than less.
About Rabbi Leiken
Rabbi Brian Leiken (he/him) is the senior Rabbi at CBI. Prior to joining CBI, Rabbi Leiken served as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Norwalk, CT for five years and the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in New City, NY for thirteen years. During his years in New City, Rabbi Leiken served on the board of Jewish Community Center of Rockland County and was president of the Rockland County Board of Rabbis.
Rabbi Leiken has served as the chaplain for the Rockland County Sheriff and been actively involved with the Nyack Branch of the NAACP. He has been actively involved with youth group work and organized many teen trips to Washington DC and Selma, Alabama. Rabbi Leiken is a Melton teacher and has taught adult education in the Rockland County Jewish Federation’s Midreshet program for over ten years.
Rabbi Leiken grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Brandeis University which he graduated from in 1998 with High Honors.
After college, he spent a year working at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington D.C. He then spent two years working for Public Campaign, a non-profit dedicated to comprehensive campaign finance reform. Rabbi Leiken was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2007.
Rabbi Leiken is married to Shara Abraham and has two amazing children, Ari (16) and Kaleb (20). Off the bimah, Rabbi Leiken loves playing guitar, watching Cleveland sports, listening to live music and watching movies.