Susan Landau-Chark - Concordia University

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manifestation of our powers of replenishment and endurance and …h[eld] within it the
key to our survival”. 65
The third sermon was upbeat, reporting on the 1969 United Synagogue
Convention that had been attended by a “large delegation from [the] congregation.” 66 In
this sermon, Rabbi Leffell emphasized the prestige that had been accrued to the
synagogue as a result of one its members (the late J.Berlin) being elected Vice-President
of the United Synagogue Association. 67 He paid homage to Rabbi Finkelstein for his
intellectual prowess and survival skills that had helped lead the JTS and the United
Synagogue movement through tumultuous times. 68 He also noted that the US Association
numbered almost 850 congregations, and that being at a meeting with 3000
representatives from all over the United States and Canada, each with similar concerns
and issues, had been an enervating, learning experience - one that he hoped more
members of the congregation would participate in during the coming years. 69
Some rabbis see their role as acquiring knowledge to pass on Halakha, or Jewish
Law. Others see themselves as teachers and write in the hope that their books will be read
and studied, while still others see themselves as voices for their community. Rabbi
Leffell came into a nascent community, “a community of positive and responsive Jews,”
and as I have been told, a fractious community at times, but one that valued nonetheless
his skills as an orator, his approach to community and wholeheartedly accepted him as
their “Captain.” These notes and sermons are what we have of Rabbi Leffell’s written
legacy - no books, pamphlets, or printed sermons (other than his retirement address) - that
65
Ibid. 6.
66
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera” (November 1, 1969): 1 CD-Rom 2004.
67
Ibid.
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid.