Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple

Please join us for: These Events - Open to All!

Make this Your Time to Belong. Learn more about becoming part of this synagogue community.
 


A Variety of Shabbat Experiences 

Adult Learning Opportunities
Calendar of Shabbat Services.
Fairmount Temple Cookbook
Perfect for Chanukah, wedding and hostess gifts.
Our Mission: Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple is a Reform congregation that strives to perpetuate Jewish tradition and strengthen Jewish lives through lifelong learning, worship, social action, and deeds of loving kindness.

 

 

CLERGY


Rabbi Arturo L. Kalfus

Rabbi Arturo L. Kalfus

Rabbi Arturo L. Kalfus joined the clergy team in the summer of 2003. 

At Fairmount Temple, Rabbi Kalfus has been involved with adult education,  including creating the popular Monday Night Learning program. He has led social activism projects, including several Darfur-related events, and coordinated movie nights for congregants. He leads small chavurot of learning, as well as leading Wednesday Morning Learning and Downtown Lunch and Learn. 

Before joining Fairmount Temple, was a rabbi at Temple Emeth in Teaneck, New Jersey. Rabbi Kalfus also served at two New York congregations, Temple Beth Emeth in Albany and Temple Emanuel in New Hyde Park. Rabbi Kalfus is a Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Center for Rabbinic Enrichment.

Rabbi Kalfus was ordained in 1992 from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Jewish History and Philosophy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has participated in a program on Language, Culture and Civilization at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Rabbi Kalfus has coordinated and taught adult education programs, expanded outreach activities for interfaith families, and taught an array of courses, including Survey of Latin American Judaism, Learning Jewish Theology for the Seeking Adult, and Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought.

Rabbi Kalfus is married to Phyllis Meyers and they are parents of two children.

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Click Here for the sermon of High Holy Days Guest Rabbi Charles Kroloff

Rabbi Joshua L. Caruso

Rabbi Joshua L.
Caruso

Rabbi Joshua L. Caruso has been a member of the Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple clergy team since 2002.

 At Fairmount Temple, Rabbi Caruso has been involved with many social action initiatives, including leading the synagogue’s Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO) efforts. This grounds-up approach examines the root causes of societal problems and explores ways of creating fundamental change. He is also directs Fairmount Temple’s annual Martin Luther King Community Day in which families gather in the spirit of Rev. King to participate in social action projects and interfaith dialogue.

 From 2007-09 he served as Director of the synagogue’s Religious School, which provides a nurturing and stimulating Jewish educational environment for almost 500 students. Rabbi Caruso is also active with many groups within the temple, including the Young People’s Congregation (YPC) which blends social and religious activities for young people and families with young children.

 In 2005, he participated in a Young Leadership Division Trip to Israel and he serves on the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland’s Israel Action Committee.  He leads adult, family and interfaith education programs at Fairmount Temple and developed its current Adult B’nai Mitzvah program. 

Ordained in 1998 at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute in New York, Rabbi Caruso first served four years as an associate rabbi at Temple Beth El in Spring Valley, New York before moving to Cleveland.

He and his wife, Leah, have three young children.
Cantor Sarah J. Sager

Cantor Sarah J.
Sager

Cantor Sarah J. Sager has been the Cantor of Fairmount Temple since 1980, and is the first person in the history of this congregation to hold the position of Cantor. She was invested by the Hebrew Union College - School of Sacred Music in New York and was one of the first women in the world to hold the title of Cantor. Cantor Sager is a graduate, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, of Brown University and also holds a Master's Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.

In recent years, Cantor Sager's career has taken on an additional dimension. She has become quite sought-after as a speaker on the topic of Judaism & Feminism, particularly as it relates to the images of women in our tradition. She was the keynote speaker at the 1993 Biennial Convention of the Women of Reform Judaism in San Francisco. Her address at that time was entitled: "Sarah's Hidden Voice: Recovering and Discovering Women's Spirituality." As a result of her charge to the assembly, the Women of Reform Judaism voted to undertake the project of a transformative commentary to the Torah that will include feminist commentary, interpretations and scholarship in an effort to uncover and recover women's voices from our tradition and enable women to interact freely with our sacred texts in the future. The much-acclaimed, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, was published in 2007. She receives frequent invitations to serve as Scholar-in-Residence on this topic and in the more traditional field of Jewish music.

Cantor Sager has been honored for her contributions to the Jewish community and for her spiritual leadership by the State of Israel Bonds, and the Commission for Women's Equality of the American Jewish Congress.

Cantor Sager serves on the Commission on Synagogue Music of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is also involved in the creation of a new clergy manual - through a committee of representatives from both the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the American Conference of Cantors (ACC). She is married to William R. Joseph and is the proud mother of a son and daughter.

Listen to Cantor Sager now! Select a format:

Selection: Shavua Tov


FAIRMOUNT  TEMPLE  STAFF  MEMBERS
216-464-1330 (General Number)
216-464-5890 (Religious School)
216-464-1752 (Pre-School)
E-mails of staff members below

Steve Borstein, Executive Director, Sborstein@fairmounttemple.org

Marla Wolf, Director of Religious School  Mwolf@fairmounttemple.org

Staci Cohen, Assistant Director of Religious School  Scohen@fairmounttemple.org

Pam Deutsch, Director of the Early Childhood Center   Pdeutsch@fairmounttemple.org

Wendy Jacobson, Caring Community Coordinator, includes special projects like Community Kitchen and Grief Support Group, as well as connecting congregants with  needs during these tough economic times with others who have offered services.  Wjacobson@fairmounttemple.org

Joey Laidman, Religious School Administrator/Registration Jlaidman@fairmounttemple.org

Debbi Lazarus, Office Manager, Dlazarus@fairmounttemple.org

Julie Moss, Librarian for the Arthur J. Lelyveld Center for Jewish Learning - e-mail for information on book availability and to put a book on  hold.  Jmoss@fairmounttemple.org

Laura Munson, Communications Director and oversees the Bulletin. Lmunson@fairmounttemple.org

Dan Utley, Program Coordinator, Dutley@fairmounttemple.org

Suzie Myers,  Membership Coordinator,   Smyers@fairmounttemple.org

Clergy Support Staff:

For Rabbi Arturo Kalfus, contact Hedy Silber at Hsilber@fairmounttemple.org

For Rabbi Joshua Caruso, contact Cathy Lipton at Clipton@fairmounttemple.org

For Cantor Sarah Sager, contact Iris Greene at Igreene@fairmounttemple.org

To Learn more about Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk, who will become Senior Rabbi at Fairmount Temple in July, 2010, click here for a Cleveland Jewish News article, and here for a Sun Newspapers Snapshot profile.


Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple

Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple
23737 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood, Ohio 44122-2296 USA
Phone: 216-464-1330, Fax: 216-464-3628, E-Mail: mail@fairmounttemple.org

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