Temple Kol Emeth to Install Second Rabbi
SPECIAL FOR THE AJT //
Temple Kol Emeth will formally embrace Rabbi Erin Boxt as the congregation’s second rabbi during a special installation celebration Jan. 11 and 12. Rabbi Boxt has invited one of his teachers from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Cantor Yvon Shore, to install him.
“This is someone who is so energetic, and within all that energy is the momentum and the ability to do so many things,” Cantor Shore, who taught Rabbi Boxt for four years at the Union for Reform Judaism’s seminary and worked with him almost daily for two years while he served on the student-elected Va’ad Beit HaKnesset, beamed.
Rabbi Boxt joined longtime Kol Emeth leader Rabbi Steven Lebow in serving the East Cobb congregation’s spiritual needs in mid-June after his graduation from HUC-JIR. His formal installation will take place on the evening of Jan. 12, immediately after a Havdalah service that will start at 7:30 p.m. A free dessert reception, sponsored by Temple Kol Emeth’s chapter of the Women of Reform Judaism, will follow the installation.
“We feel like we hit a home run with Rabbi Boxt,” Temple Kol Emeth President Sherri Parman said. “We look to him as someone who is excited about his Judaism and is passionate about passing it on to congregants of all ages – preschoolers, teenagers, college kids, young singles and couples. He can preach from the bima on Friday night, teach Torah on Saturday morning and share pastoral duties with Rabbi Lebow.”
Cantor Shore will join Rabbi Lebow, Rabbi Boxt and the congregation for a Shabbat dinner on Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m., and Shabbat services will follow. The entire community is invited to join the clergy and congregants at the dinner (register for the event at rabbiboxtdinner.eventbrite.com; cost is $22 for adults and $14 for children 5 and older).
Rabbi Boxt and his wife Batya have one daughter, Carlie, who was a baby when he started rabbinical school. While he was at HUC-JIR, Cantor Shore said, Rabbi Boxt came into his own, developing confidence, ease in front of a congregation and an authentic voice from the pulpit.
“I cannot wait to see the congregation. I cannot wait to see the community,” the cantor added. “I am so excited to see the clergy, the community, everyone who’s there, to see what it is that he’s part of now.”
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