B’NAI ABRAHAM HONORING RABBI KULWIN ON HIS BAR MITZVAH YEAR AS SPRITUAL LEADER

On Saturday, March 24, 2012, at 7:00 PM, the Temple B'nai Abraham congregational family will hold a celebration honoring Rabbi Clifford Kulwin’s Bar Mitzvah Year with Temple B’nai Abraham. It will be an evening of friendship, delicious food and community as we honor Rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin as he enters his thirteenth year as the spiritual leader of B’nai Abraham.  An Ad Journal in Rabbi Kulwin’s honor, entitled CLIFF NOTES is being compiled. This publication will provide the opportunity for those in the congregational family and the community to personally express their sentiments to the Rabbi. Additionally, for the month of March there is a wonderful exhibit in the TBA Sodowick Museum Showcase, housed in the temple lobby, of photos and memorabilia which reflect Rabbi Kulwin’s 13 years as the spiritual  leader of Temple B’nai Abraham.

Rabbi Kulwin has occupied the pulpit of Temple B'nai Abraham since 1999.  In that time he has distinguished himself as a leader whose sermons, addresses and opinion pieces in the New Jersey Jewish News and the Star-Ledger have made earned him respect in the Jewish community and the community at large.

Once a congregational rabbi in Rio de Janeiro, and fluent in Portuguese, Rabbi Kulwin has maintained close ties with the Brazilian Jewish community there and in 2011 spent Passover officiating at community seders throughout the country.  He also speaks Spanish, French and Hebrew, which greatly aided his global work during the fifteen years he was associated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

Israel is a key concern of Rabbi Kulwin’s, and he has lead numerous congregational trips there, (including  a family mission that is leaving tomorrow February 15. )  including volunteers who worked in the area of S’derot during the missile siege from Gaza.  He actively recruits young people to travel to Israel for summer and study programs, and both of his own children were students there in the spring semester of 2011.

Rabbi Kulwin was born and raised in Champaign, Illinois, graduated from Macalester College and was ordained by and received a Master's degree from the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion after studies there and in Jerusalem. He was also a Doctoral Fellow in Jewish history at Columbia University. 

The photo of Rabbi Kulwin is courtesy of Jan Press Photo Media , Livingston