Rabbi Sharon Ballan
Rabbi Sharon Ballan has been the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom since 2009. After a successful career in advertising and marketing, she changed careers and entered rabbinical school. She was ordained at the Academy of Jewish Religion, a pluralistic seminary that embraces all denominations in May, 2009.
Before her ordination, she served as the student Rabbi of Congregation Sons of Israel, a small liberal non-denominational congregation in Chambersburg, PA.
Rabbi Ballan grew up on Long Island. Her family was active in a Reform synagogue, where she proudly chanted Torah at her Bat Mitzvah, something that most young Jewish women weren’t doing in the early ’70s.
Becoming a rabbi never crossed her mind then, because there were no female rabbi role models for her.
She has always considered herself a teacher, even before she began teaching Hebrew and religious school when she was a young adult. She believes wholeheartedly in the wisdom of Pirkei Avot, 1:6 “Select a teacher for yourself, acquire a friend.”
Over her years at Temple Beth Sholom, she has built relationships with members of all ages and has incorporated the richness of Judaism into their lives.
Email: rabbi@templebethsholom.org
Cantor Jerry Korobow
Cantor Jerry Korobow lives with his wife Zo-An in Roslyn Heights, NY, and has
two daughters, Jenna and Marisa. Jerry has many years
of experience as a professional performing, touring and recording singer/instrumentalist
and actor.
Having worked as a social worker, public school music teacher and attorney,
Cantor Korobow brings a very unusual and interesting backgroung to the
cantorate. He has participated in over two decades of High Holy Day cantorial
officiation in the New York and Boston areas, and looks forward to a new
leg of his musical and spiritual journey with Temple Beth Sholom.
Email: cantor@templebethsholom.org
Rabbi Emeritus Bruce Goldwasser
Bruce Goldwasser became Temple Beth Sholom's third rabbi in 1978. He started
out as a construction worker and an estimator working for his father, and
still lifts weights at home. He then worked as a child welfare caseworker
in New Jersey where he met his wife Nancy who was taking over his caseload. "When we were first dating, he says in his usual humorous manner, we had sixty
children between us. So, she made an honest man of me, and we got married."
Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Goldwasser
received his degrees of Bachelor of Hebrew Literature and Master of Hebrew
Literature with an academic prize in Theology. Before coming to Temple
Beth Sholom, he served communities in Bluefield, West Virginia and Lombard,
Illinois. His rabbinical thesis was based on a study of Kabbalah (Jewish
mysticism). He was awarded his Doctorate of Divinity degree by HUC-JIR
in 1995.
Rabbi Goldwasser retired in 2009 and was elected Rabbi Emeritus. He and
Nancy have two children and two grandchildren. His definition of becoming
a grandparent: "Going to heaven without having to die first."
Questions? Comments? webmaster@templebethsholom.org