Community Corner
Temple Beth El Handling Fallout From False-Rabbi Resignation
Keren Alpert resigned after admitting to temple officials that she did not attain the proper credentials to be a rabbi.
It was a simple, honest question. And one that Aileen Bloom and other congregants of Temple Beth El found themselves asking after startling revelations that Keren Alpert was acting as a rabbi without the proper credentials.
"Totally stunned by the events at Temple Beth El - Am I married or not?," Aileen Bloom @Aileendoesart7h posted on Twitter.com after the news surfaced last week that Alpert resigned.
Temple Beth El Board President Raymond Rosenfeld relayed the news in a letter to members that explained that Alpert admitted to lying about her completion of rabbinical training courses.
"Specifically, she did not initiate or complete a rabbinic training program, and did not disclose this fact. Accordingly both her ordination and her position at Temple Beth El were accepted under false pretenses,” Rosenfeld wrote, alluding to Alpert's ordination ceremony just last year.
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He assured the congregation members in the letter that the ceremonies she performed were still valid since another rabbi attended each one.
Alpert's biography and photo were removed from the Temple's website late last week. An archived version shows she joined the temple as education director in 2004, and then became a rabbinic associate where her duties included conducting religious ceremonies and speaking at public events.
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