As Valley Beth Shalom celebrates the 100th anniversary of Rabbi Harold Schulweis鈥� birth (and the 20th year since Rabbi Ed Feinstein was named Sr. Rabbi), Feinstein looked back at the more than 55 years he knew Schulweis.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for us to talk about him as rabbi and talk about him as an intellectual, as a philosopher and as an author,鈥� Feinstein said. But 鈥減eople should know the kind of human being he was: very gentle. We were close. I went with him to a number of events. He was quite sensitive. You think of him as a powerful orator and a very public person.鈥�
To make sure that Rabbi Schulweis would not vanish into history, Rabbi Feinstein arranged for a videographer friend to assist with 11 hours of face-to-face interviews. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to lose Harold鈥檚 voice,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wanted to make sure that if one day scholars decided to come and recover Schulweis鈥� voice, they would have it 鈥� on video. And now it鈥檚 up online.鈥�
Just as important, when Schulweis became very ill Feinstein knew he would have his records 鈥� his files and his letters. Not only that, but in addition to his written material, he would have his own memories of him. 鈥淭hen I did more research 鈥� as you always do,鈥� Feinstein said. Looking at the Bronx-born Schulweis鈥� pre-Valley Beth Shalom career, he discovered Schulweis had served on only one other pulpit, at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland, where he enjoyed an 18-year run before devoting his 44 years to VBS in Encino. 鈥淚t turns out,鈥� Rabbi Feinstein said, 鈥渢here still are folks in Oakland who remember Harold. I went up there and spent an afternoon interviewing these people. I also searched through the archives of Temple Beth Abraham to make sure I had the material I needed from that part of his life. I spent a lot of time with his wife Malka, Of Blessed Memory. She was a marvelous soul in her own right. And I spoke with others who knew him and worked with him.鈥� Feinstein鈥檚 research, in pursuit of a doctorate, turned into a 2020 book, 鈥淚n Pursuit of Godliness and a Living Judaism: The Life and Thought of Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis.鈥�
The hard part for Feinstein was, 鈥渉ow do you take something as big and complicated as a whole life and find a structure to share it? I think I found it. Someday,鈥� he predicted with a smile, 鈥渋t will be a movie.鈥�听
Feinstein wanted to share 鈥渁 deeply, deeply sensitive side to this soul.鈥� One morning he and Schulweis were doing a service after a tragedy in the community. Someone had lost a baby shortly after birth. When Feinstein went to help Harold with the service, Schulweis couldn鈥檛 do it. He got choked up.
鈥淗arold turned to me in the middle of the service,鈥� said Feinstein. 鈥淗e said 鈥楩inish it for me.鈥� He was a person of such sensitivity. When he spoke of the moral truth of the Jewish tradition, that was him, really him. He really felt himself obligated, and he was so compassionate. He would say, 鈥極ur compassion is how God touches the world.鈥欌��
One of Schulweis鈥� favorite phrases was, 鈥淲e are the eyes, we are the hands of God.鈥�听
Working beside Schulweis, Feinstein observed daily evidence that the older rabbi walked the walk. 鈥淗e really did,鈥� Feinstein said. 鈥淭here was a gentleness, a kindness about him. When I began talking to people, they told me stories. One fellow recalled being a high school kid and part of a 10-student Wednesday night class.鈥� The student told him that one Halloween night, he was the only one who showed up. 鈥淗e said that Rabbi Schulweis sat with him for an hour-and a half. There was a sensitivity to Harold that not many people saw. This is the kind of human being he was.鈥�
One thing he couldn鈥檛 do, Feinstein said, was make small talk. 鈥淵ou would go to lunch with him and try to talk about听 sports, politics. He couldn鈥檛 do it. Schmoozing wasn鈥檛 his way. He would say, 鈥楬ave you read Martin Buber?鈥� He would tell you about plays he saw or stories he had read in The New York Times. There was no superficiality about him. All very real. Schmoozing wasn鈥檛 him.鈥�
Feinstein marveled at how seamlessly the Bronx native had adapted to Southern California. 鈥淗arold loved it here,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e told me 鈥楬ere there is an atmosphere of openness to the new.鈥� There is something about being in the sunshine on the edge of the continent that gives you a chance to experiment. He felt many other communities were too conservative.鈥� Feinstein still speaks of Schulweis reverently. 鈥淲e became very close,鈥� he said, but it took 10 years before he could call him Harold.
When Schulweis grew older and his energy began to flag, he turned over to Feinstein parts of the operation of the congregation. Then one day in 2005, Feinstein said, 鈥渉e came into the office as he always did, and he said 鈥榃e鈥檙e switching jobs.鈥� I said to him, 鈥楬arold, I鈥檓 really busy today. Don鈥檛 mess with me.鈥欌�� He said 鈥楴o, no, we鈥檙e switching jobs. I am going to the board tonight and telling them.鈥欌��听
Feinstein thought Schulweis was kidding. Feinstein indeed was too busy to go to that night鈥檚 board meeting. Then next day the president of the synagogue came to Feinstein鈥檚 office with a confirming announcement. 鈥淗arold told us you are the senior rabbi of the congregation and he鈥檚 now the junior rabbi,鈥� the president said.听
鈥淵ou are kidding,鈥� Feinstein replied.听
Later when Schulweis came to the office, his still stunned deputy bluntly asked, 鈥淲hat the hell did you do?鈥� Just as bluntly, Schulweis replied: 鈥淚 told you that we are switching jobs. You鈥檝e been running the place. You know how to do it. I will work for you. You鈥檝e been here a dozen years.”
Feinstein knew exactly what his erstwhile boss meant. 鈥淗arold had all this energy, all this vision, all this power but he needed to know where to put it,鈥� Feinstein reflected. 鈥淚 became sort of his agent, his manager, and I would deploy him.鈥�
The trade of duties took place. 鈥淚 would say 鈥楬arold, there is a havurah that needs to talk to you,鈥� Feinstein said. 鈥淥r 鈥榯here鈥檚 a group of kids who need to talk to you. There鈥檚 a lecture series I want to do with you.鈥� We were partners, of course, and I never stopped revering him. He wanted me to place him in circumstances where he could do what he did so well, to teach and to inspire.鈥�
That was how the Feinstein-Schulweis office operated for nine years.
鈥淲e worked like that until two weeks before Harold passed away,鈥� on Dec. 18, 2014, Feinstein said. 鈥淓ven at that point, he still was saying 鈥楾his is what we have to do. Let鈥檚 try this鈥� 鈥� speaking with almost blinding rapidity. He also was very, very frail, of course.
Even though the elder rabbi was 89 years old and had survived three heart attacks, he was so alive, the 71-year-old Feinstein said. 鈥淚 inherited my vigor and my sense of urgency from him. That is what keeps me going.鈥�
And history would seem to be repeating itself. In 2024, Feinstein realized the congregation needed younger leadership. His reward would be that 鈥淚鈥檇 get to do the things I love to do, primarily a lot of teaching, whatever people want to learn 鈥� Torah, prayer, philosophy, Zionism, for kids and for grownups. See, I am a teacher by temperament.鈥�
When he stepped aside, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz from Adat Shalom succeeded Feinstein at VBS. 鈥淚 am lucky,鈥� Feinstein said, 鈥渂ecause I have a community that likes what I like to do. Harold created an environment, and I got to step right into those shoes.鈥澨�
