Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin assumes permanent pulpit at Anshe Sfard
By ALAN SMASON
With his acceptance of the interim rabbinical post last year, Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin became the first rabbi in the New Orleans Jewish community’s history to assume a rabbinic seat previously occupied by a sibling. More local Jewish history was marked two weeks ago with the acceptance of a new contract establishing Rabbi Yochanan as the permanent rabbi at Congregation Anshe Sfard, the last remaining non-Chabad Orthodox Jewish synagogue in New Orleans.
Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin in the Anshe Sfard sanctuary. (Photo by Alan Smason)
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin served in the same post for seven years from 1998 until 2005, when the flooding from Hurricane Katrina forced the premature termination of his contract slated to end later that year.
While details of the new contract between Rabbi Yochanan and the members of the board of directors of the congregation are not a matter of public record, president Gary Remer was able to verify that the terms of the contract run more than one year.
“Things have obviously changed a lot since my brother was there,” the younger Rabbi Rivkin told the CCJN in an exclusive interview. “I think probably 75 percent of the people that were going to shul when my brother was there, are no longer there and 75 percent who are going now weren’t going when my brother was there.”
Rivkin and other candidates interviewed for the position over the course of the previous six months following the resignation of Rabbi David Polsky in 2016. The extension of a contract gives Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin permanent status as a rabbi and symbolically affords him the full faith and confidence of the board in his ability to act as its spiritual head.
Rivkin feels he is qualified to lead because of the past 18 years of experience he and his wife have enjoyed at the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center at Tulane. “A lot of people that live in that area (near) Anshe Sfard and I have a lot of experience with that demographic,” continued. “I have a lot of relationships with Tulane alumni who live in town and I think that’s good for Anshe Sfard.”
While he may have ceded some of his daily work to Rabbi Liebel Lipskier (and his wife Mushka) over the course of the past two years, Rivkin will still maintain his position at Tulane with his wife Sarah. “I’m not giving up my job at Tulane Chabad,” he chirped up. “I’m the director of the overall program and administrator, but in addition to that we have a program for undergrads, which the other rabbi is in charge of and Sarah and I are doing a program for college graduates and recent college graduates.”
Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin outside the Congregation Anshe Sfard building in New Orleans. (Photo by Alan Smason)
In that capacity, he already hosts Friday night Shabbat meals and gatherings for that demographic, which he feels has a certain synergy with a push by Anshe Sfard to increase new members living geographically nearby. “It was actually a really good fit to continue to do the work Sarah and I have been doing with that demographic,” he stated. “Down the road, when they are ready to make a synagogue decision, they might choose Anshe Sfard as a synagogue.”
Rivkin envisions creating a vibrant Jewish community at the synagogue. “Our plan is try to make dinners at the shul and to definitely continue with the Saturday afternoon kiddushes,” he continued. “But also to possibly have the synagogue be a place where even non-members feel like it’s a great place to experience Jewish life. Most importantly what I am trying to do is find out what the community wants and try to do that.”
Because of its proximity to downtown New Orleans and convention centers, the congregation frequently receives out-of-town visitors looking to keep Shabbat in an observant fashion. “Every week we get a handful of people from out of town and that’s why it’s really important for us to have the weekly lunches that we have every Shabbat. We want to raise the profile of our shul in our demographic and try to get that information out about the shul because that’s a very important part of what Anshe Sfard does for the Jewish community.”
He looks forward to leading the congregation in prayer for the High Holiday period “We’ve always had a chazan for the High Holidays,” he pointed out and expects that one will be hired by Remer for the religious period again.
“Just right now, if you ask me what my plans are, it’s to focus on Judaism,” he concluded. “What I really want to do is listen to the people – all the members and the non-members – and get a better sense of what they’d be interested in and try and implement that.”
