But Who Am I? And Who Are My People?

The world at large knows almost nothing about the life and work of a rabbi: the diverse responsibilities and obligations, the many stresses and pressures, the conflicting demands for time, energy, and sympathetic understanding, the insistent public causes and private needs that demand intervention and compete for attention. Indeed, much of what rabbis do is unknown even to the members of their own congregations. But Who Am I And Who Are My People? A Rabbi’s Reflections on the Rabbinate and the Jewish Community by Dr. Marc Angel, rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the famed Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City, is a compelling and informative attempt to address this question. Rabbi Angel, the spiritual leader of the oldest Jewish house of worship in the United States and former president of the Rabbinical Council of America, is one of this country's most prominent Orthodox Jewish leaders and a leading luminary of its rapidly growing Sephardic segment. In the pages of this fascinating and highly personal book, Rabbi Angel sets out to explain what it is that rabbis do and why. As the book's organizational principle, he quite imaginatively and effectively utilizes the ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah, the mystical emanations in which aspects of the divine find expression in human life. This is a fascinating and informative book, well worth the attention of any reader interested in Jewish life in contemporary America. Rabbi Marc D. Angel serves as Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish And Portuguese Synagogue Of New York City, founded in 1654. The author and editor of a number of books, among them Exploring the Thought of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik, Voices in Exile: A Study in Sephardic Intellectual History and the Sephardic Haggada. Rabbi Angel is a former President of the Rabbinical Council of America.