One of the things I love about my job is that there’s no such thing as a “typical” day. Being a pulpit rabbi is not your typical 9-to-5 job like many others. Depending on the schedule and needs of our community, my day can look any number of ways. Reviewing this past week (and, please realize, this is in no way a complaint), amongst other things, I’ve:

attended two evening committee meetings; sent a mountain of emails; paid pastoral visits to members of our congregation who are ill; taught 8th grade Tanakh upstairs in the day school; helped with arrangements for our SholomPlex weekend; prepared my teaching for our Tikkun Leil Shavuot next Thursday night; taught our weekly parsha class on Zoom; and, cutting it a little close to the wire but got it done nonetheless, wrote a sermon. 

The variety of my job, to me, is a draw. Some days I’m working in my office, and on others I’m out in the world. Some days I may have some free time, and others I might be “wall to wall” with work. 

Another rabbi, who’s a friend and teacher, once said to me only half joking: “70% of being a rabbi is setting up tables and chairs”; which might seem mundane, but is integral. There are some things which can be delegated, and other things which cannot be. Some things can be prioritized, while others can be done a little later. But at the end of the day, they’re all important in their own way. 

The variety which I encounter in my day to day professional life is the opposite of that of the Levites. The tribe of Levi,........

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