Young rabbi takes reins at troubled Winnipeg shul

WINNIPEG — Twenty-nine-year-old Rabbi Ari Ellis is the new spiritual leader at Herzlia Adas-Yeshurun Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue in Winnipeg’s south end.

It’s Rabbi Ellis’ first position as a pulpit rabbi and he said he’s looking forward to getting to know the community.

For the last year, the 100-family congregation has been without a spiritual leader since the departure of Rabbi Tzvi Muller.

In June 2007, the badly divided synagogue had a contested election for its board of directors, an event that had not occurred for many years. The synagogue currently doesn’t have a president, and there was no quorum at its annual general meeting in June. The most recent executive director, Rona Davies, is also no longer working at the synagogue.

Rabbi Ellis said he sees himself as bringing a fresh start to the shul and enabling it “to move forward.”

He also hopes to be a resource for all of the Jewish community.

“I see myself here as not just specifically to serve the Orthodox community, but to serve all of the community. I have spent time…meeting with leaders from the Jewish federation… the Gray Academy [of Jewish Education], and other organizations. I anticipate spending more time at the Gray Academy and hope to get to know the community. I am meeting people and getting different perspectives,” he said.

He said he is also looking forward to working with Rabbi Uriel Malka, the new principal of Ohr Hatorah Day School, the modern Orthodox day school located in the synagogue building.

“I know him [Rabbi Malka] from Israel. We studied in the same program… He and I are both interested in Jewish education and awareness and understand that children are the future of our community.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Rabbi Ellis, who has lived in Israel for the last six years, admitted, “I’m not quite sure what to expect from Winnipeg winters.”

Ellis didn’t grow up in an Orthodox household, and he attended the Conservative University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles and began attending an Orthodox shul. He received his master’s in education and administration from the University of Judaism’s Fingerhut School of Education.

Rabbi Ellis studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar under Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat, and received his smichah in May 2007.

Ellis said he and his wife Tikva, 25, wanted to come to a smaller Jewish community.

“Of course, it’s great for any Jew to live in Israel, but we figured that if we weren’t going to be in Israel, we didn’t need to be in a larger Jewish centre. There are enough rabbis in New York or Los Angeles… We figured it would be good to be in a smaller community where we felt we could make a difference.”

Rabbi Ellis said one of his areas of interest is “in the application of Halachah to issues of technology… and medical ethics.”

The couple, who arrived in Winnipeg at the end of August, have two children, ages two and six months. Tikva Ellis, who is from Sacramento, is working in the preschool at Ohr Hatorah Day School.