Rabbi Burt Siegel at Chabad of Upper East Side

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• published: 10 Feb 2016
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Edited Version, made from a lecture given in Chabad of the Upper Ease Side, the complete lecture lasted an hour in a half. Lecture Blurb Rabbi Burt Siegel is known to many at our Chabad House as the Reform Rabbi who is on the path of Chassidic Traditional Judaism. Why would a prominent Reform Rabbi leave reform to transform his life? What led him to love Chabad so much? What did he find in Chabad that has now brought him the happiest years of his life? Bio Rabbi Burt Siegel or Rabbi Simcha Bunim ben David was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His parents were immigrants from Poland and Lithuania and he was brought up in a home filled with Yiddish, secular culture, but with no religious practice. He went to the synagogue for the first time at the age of six with the conviction he was to be a Rabbi. Then he began his after-school study of Hebrew and Jewish literature. He attended the University of Wisconsin and majored in Jewish studies taught frim a secular perspective. After graduation from the University of Wisconsin, he attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the seminary for Reform Rabbis. There he won the award as the top student and studies in an independent study program for excellent students. After his ordination, he served as Rabbi of the Riverdale Temple in New York. He was the youngest senior Rabbi who ever held a position as Senior Rabbi of such a large congregation. After having served as interim rabbi at The Village Temple in New York, he founded his own congregation which grew to a thousand members and became one of the most popular synagogues in New York , drawing people from throughout the city and from a number of foreign countries. He was Rabbi of The Shul of New York located on the Lower East Side and recently retired and was honored to be names Rabbi Emeritus. Rabbi Siegel began studying at the Yeshivas Jerusalem three years ago. He has been a student at Yeshiva Simchat Shlomo at Mayanot for these three years. He is far from retirement and is planning new directions for his Rabbinate. Rabbi Siegel has been a very active partner of Chabad of the Upper East Side and as been a student at the Kolel for two and a half years, and regularly attends morning and Shabbat services at the Chabad center. He looks forward to representing Chabad at talks and seminars. Rabbi Siegel is committed to studying Traditional Judaism as he moves in that direction. Speech “From Reform Rabbi to Chabad and the Detours Between” Born with a spiritual nature, Rabbi Burt Siegel, Rabbi Simcha Bunim has been an active partner of Chabad for two and a half years. Known to many at Chabad of the Upper East Side for his warm, loving and kind nature, most people know only that he was a Reform Rabbi who became more traditional, but almost nothing of his unusual journey. On January 11 at seven pm Rabbi Burt Siegel will share an unusually interesting journey from Reform Rabbi to “Reformed” Rabbi at our monthly lecture series. Seeking a fulfilling spiritual experience for a lifetime, he found only paths that led nowhere for him. Even as his spiritual searching as a reform rabbi, he found only a spirituality based on German Jewish theology of the 19th century. He found reform Jewish spiritual philosophy dry and empty. His spiritual nature hungered for spiritual truth and he began to explore other faiths. He became a Buddhist, a sufi?), religious rooted in superficial new age thinking and finally decided to go to India to find Enlightenment. He traveled to India for thirteen years. Finally, he knew that none of these “religions”, had the substance he was seeking. After his Yeshiva experiences in Jerusalem, and beginning to live a more traditional Jewish life, he was beginning to find a deep meaning in genuine Jewish spirituality. Two and a half years ago, Rabbi Siegel was led to Chabad, and almost immediately fell in love with Chabad’s spiritual philosophy and the Chabad way of life. Hear his story, be inspired as Rabbi Siegel will inspire you with his journey to Chabad. A well known speaker, you are sure to be inspired by this evening with Rabbi Siegel as he passionately shares his journey.