CARMEL >> At the annual Jewish Food Festival hosted by Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel, Rabbi Bruce Greenbaum sees to it that all food served is kosher.

Growing up in a liberal reformed Jewish household in the greater Seattle area, Greenbaum was 10 years old when his family moved to Mercer Island, into a waterfront home on Lake Washington. One day, while his family — a younger brother, older sister, his parents and he — caught crabs and oysters and clams on the beach, the high school senior told his parents he wanted to keep kosher style — abstaining from non-kosher meats and shellfish.

“My parents thought that was the funniest rebellion ever,” he said.

Greenbaum also remembers the day the moving truck brought his family — his wife, Susan, their three daughters, Liotte, Shira and Tani, and himself — to Carmel where he began his tenure as senior rabbi for Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel Valley. Now, 31 years later, he is retiring from the role he began pondering in Sunday School and preparing for throughout college.

As Greenbaum looks toward his retirement and the active outdoor lifestyle he intends to continue — he and Susan are avid tennis players — first he needs to address the golf-ball-sized benign brain tumor diagnosed last month, after his wife noticed a slight head tremor.

“The word ‘benign’ allows me to take a deep breath and move forward to resolve this,” he said. “I am working with a pair of neurosurgeons at Community Hospital, who will remove the tumor, which they say has been slowly growing for a long time. They say I could be back on the tennis court within a month.”

Serving a wider community

One of Greenbaum’s favorite phrases in all of the Torah is the command, “Tzedek tzedek tirdof or Justice, justice, you shall pursue” which, he says, calls for a commitment to righteousness, fairness and social responsibility.

“I have told Susan I want this phrase on my gravestone,” he said. “Community service is both an important part of my role as a rabbi and an important part of who I am. I’ve always been very family and community oriented, and social justice has always been an important component of my rabbinism — the teachings, traditions, beliefs and practices of rabbis.”

To this end, Greenbaum has worked to support IHELP—the local Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program. As one of the participating congregations, on the first Sunday of the month, Temple Beth Israel feeds dinner to unhoused men and hosts them overnight.

“About eight years ago, I also established an interfaith organization called JCM — Jews, Christians, Muslims,” he said. “Through this, we decided to create a meal program which evolved into our soup kitchen, called Abraham’s Tent. Every Thursday, we serve a free, hot, substantial meal to all who are food insecure.”

Greenbaum also is deeply involved in Rotary International, via Carmel Valley Rotary Club, which is devoted to local community services and education.

“I’ve served on every position, including president of our local chapter,” he said. “I always want to be interactive with our community and to make sure the community understands this is a Jewish value.”

Beginnings in faith

Raised in a reformed Jewish synagogue, he had a bar mitzvah and went to religious school, displaying a little resistance, since he wanted to be outdoors playing, instead of going to Sunday school. When his rabbi asked the question, “With all the suffering and antisemitism in the world, why be Jewish?” it ignited a lifelong question.

“Yet this is a question I have come to answer,” said Greenbaum. “The Jewish culture is filled with such wonderful values and amazing traditions and rituals. It’s a lifestyle that lifts you up and helps your spirit soar. There are so many wonderful reasons to be Jewish; it is worth the suffering that is sometimes attached to it.”

Drawn toward Judaism, Greenbaum studied at Hebrew University, spending his junior year in Jerusalem, to earn a double bachelor’s degree in Hebrew studies and sociology. When he came back home for his senior year, he told his parents he wanted to become a rabbi.

“Both my parents thought I would become a doctor or a lawyer,” he said. “My mother said, ‘What kind of life is that for a nice Jewish boy?’ Once I convinced my parents that becoming a rabbi was my heart’s desire, they supported me, wholeheartedly.”

Faith foundation

Greenbaum’s understanding of his faith began with a cultural orientation, focused on holidays, rituals and traditions around the Sabbath. Yet, as it evolved, it became a balance between culture and religion.

“I began to develop a sense of godliness, of spirituality,” he said, “and a deeper connection to the people, to history, to Israel and how very complicated it all is. There are so many components one can connect to or wrestle within this faith.”

After college, Greenbaum was accepted to Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers within the Reform Jewish movement. Among three campuses in the United States — Cincinnati, New York City and Los Angeles — plus one in Jerusalem, Israel, Greenbaum spent his first year in Jerusalem, which was required and, as a West-Coaster, chose Los Angeles. Because, in the early 80s, he could not receive his ordination in Los Angeles, he went to Cincinnati to be ordained.

“You’re required to spend the first year of your studies in Israel,” he said, “getting to know a foreign nation, the language — which, being 9,000 miles away from home, can be a little intimidating. To make a commitment to enter in a program that requires five years of graduate study after four years of undergraduate school is significant. It’s a decision one makes.

“For me, it was so filled with intellectual stimulation among people mostly my age, who all had the same interest and desire to learn. This is not a competitive profession. We studied and prayed together.”

Greenbaum achieved a master of arts in Hebrew Letters — all rabbinic students do — followed by a personal choice to earn a master of arts in Jewish Education.

“In the meantime,” he said, “I had met a woman, Susan, with whom I was very intrigued and wanted to spend time with. She said she’d only move to Cincinnati, where I was to be ordained, if we were married.”

First, he said, he had to convince her he was the right guy for her.

“Susan was going to Israel folk dancing every week,” he said, “so, even before we started to date, I offered to babysit her 4-year-old daughter, Liotte. I would read her bedtime stories in various voices — some would say I’m a bit of a storyteller, a character — I think she fell in love with me before Susan did.”

The Greenbaums were married during their last weekend in Los Angeles and then flew to the north island of New Zealand for their honeymoon, before moving to Cincinnati. During their two years there, he wrote his rabbinic thesis — he was in the middle of chapter two when the couple had their second child, Shira —and he was ordained.

A couple of months ago, the Greenbaums visited the south island of New Zealand in celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary.

Following his rabbinic ordination, the family moved to Denver, where Rabbi Greenbaum served seven years as assistant and then associate rabbi. Recognizing it was time to serve as senior rabbi, in 1994, he accepted what has become his career position and moved with his wife and three daughters to Carmel.

Now as he moves into retirement he knows his congregation and wider community will be there for him, as he has been, for them.

“I have absolutely loved being a rabbi,” he said. “It has been a joy serving our community for so long, participating in multiple-generation life-cycle events for families. I’ve been blessed in so many ways; I wouldn’t have traded this for anything. If I could do it all over again, I would, without hesitation. I feel like I’m one of the luckiest people on the planet.”