GREENFIELD — With an eye toward creating a space where all values are represented, Spiritual Leader Simcha Halpert-Hanson has been selected to take on the role held by Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener.

Following Cohen-Kiener’s retirement after eight years leading Temple Israel, Halpert-Hanson, who is transgender and uses they/them pronouns, wants to bring the assets that come along with their identity to the space at 27 Pierce St.

“I find that if people holding maligned identities reach out, it tends to be relevant to everyone,” they explained.

Halpert-Hanson said they know how to teach from their own perspective, providing an outsider’s view in some respects, and feels they can create an opportunity for deep learning for those who do not share the same identity. They hope their position will allow congregants who may not personally know transgender individuals to make the identity feel “less loaded” and facilitate mutual learning.

“I see my transness as an asset in how I understand Judaism, Torah, and elements of Jewish practice and tradition at large to be accessible and meaningful,” they said.

Halpert-Hanson said they are poised to bring lively, meaningful prayer and relevant Torah study to the Jewish community of Franklin County and beyond.

“I want to create an intergenerational chevra — community — here,” Halpert-Hanson said. “I want to create a space for folks who feel that their values are not being represented.”

A fifth-year Hebrew College student, Halpert-Hanson moved to western Massachusetts in 2018. They are not yet ordained — hence the title spiritual leader — but will be in the coming year and assume the title of rabbi.

Halpert-Hanson co-led services in 2018 and 2019 in the now non-active radical Jewish group Nishmat Shoom. They discovered that hundreds of Jewish people from across western Massachusetts attended services despite not belonging to brick-and-mortar synagogues. They hope to bring these people into Temple Israel as the new leader.

“I took to heart what I was seeing,” they recalled. “All those folks were not finding resonance in the institutions here.”

Halpert-Hanson grew up on Massachusetts’ North Shore and attended a Reform synagogue, where they enjoyed their time in a Jewish after-school program.

“I was a frum kid — observant child — in a secular household,” they said.

They shared the story of discovering the tradition of Jewish people ridding their homes of leavened bread and cleaning their kitchens by candlelight with a feather before Passover. They naturally began hiding their family’s cereal and sweeping their shelves with a feather in the middle of the holiday before their mother stopped them.

“There were things about religion that I was attracted to,” they said. “It takes chaos and makes it into order.”

In their 20s, the family suggested that Halpert-Hanson become a rabbi, but the idea never solidified until they attended the Jewish farming fellowship program Adamah. There, Halpert-Hanson met someone who was determined to convince them to become a rabbi. After completing the fellowship and subsequently working for the organization, they started exploring rabbinical school options.

Halpert-Hanson was hired as a rabbi before finishing school and began working at Temple Israel earlier this month.

“Rabbi Andrea did such a bang-up job of creating community here,” they said. “I want to add onto what has already been done and continue to grow the community.”

A hope for new growth

Reflecting on her time at Temple Israel, Cohen-Kiener said she hopes she brought “words and actions that helped communities and individuals.”

Cohen-Kiener said that when she first arrived at the synagogue, she found her job to be a complicated mental task of juggling the needs of a variety of people. The most difficult part of her job was dealing with controversies in the congregation. She explained that her training in compassionate listening helped mend many of the issues.

During her tenure, she raised annual dues that were collected from about $30,000 to more than $84,000. She achieved this by bringing in new people and mending relationships with inactive members. She also mentioned that when she became rabbi, the Jewish after-school program at the synagogue had shrunk from having 70 children at its peak to just four children. However, she began to revitalize the program, which now has at least 12 children signed up.

The rabbi position at Temple Israel is part-time, so Cohen-Kiener was also able to serve the Jewish Renewal Congregation P’nai Or of West Hartford, Connecticut. She will continue working as rabbi at the West Hartford congregation and live in Greenfield.

She noted that the main difference between the two congregations is the clientele. Temple Israel in Greenfield is known as a “kol vol” community, where any Jewish person who wants to participate is welcome. Temple Israel is non-denominational, so the group takes liberties in programming.

In Hartford, she said, there are various congregations to choose from, so there is less need for mending and accommodating the different needs and interests of the congregants. Cohen-Kiener was ordained as a Renewal rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance of Jewish Renewal in Philadelphia and leads the Renewal synagogue in West Hartford. Cohen-Kiener described Renewal as a progressive and lively denomination that takes religious teachings seriously.

In her retirement, Cohen-Kiener will continue following her passions for writing, storytelling and stand-up comedy. She will also continue her agricultural projects, and advocacy for affordable housing and accessory dwelling units.

Looking ahead, Cohen-Kiener hopes that with the incoming rabbi, the synagogue will experience new growth, expand the music program, and establish a more professional administration to free up time for volunteers to run programming.

“I hope they are wildly successful beyond my dreams,” she said. “I am going to take credit for the foundation from which they will leap.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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