{"id":142,"date":"2020-04-02T16:11:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T16:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.ckibbnj.org\/?page_id=142"},"modified":"2026-06-23T22:54:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T22:54:52","slug":"spiritual-leaders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/spiritual-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Spiritual Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#rabbi\">Rabbi Stephen Wylen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#cantor\">Cantor Edward Roffman<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2007 \u2013 2018: Rabbi Jack Kramer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2006 \u2013 2007: Rabbi Steven Kirschner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1997 \u2013 2006: Rabbi William Kraus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1994: Rabbi Sheri Berger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1976 \u2013 1993:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Rabbi Aaron Decter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1967 \u2013 1976:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Rabbi David P. Prince<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1967\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 CKI became affiliated with the United Synagogue of America (later called the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1955 \u2013 1966: Rabbi H. Hillel Horowitz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1954 \u2013 1955: Rabbi Goldberg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1952 \u2013 1954: Rabbi Herbert H. Kumin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1950: Rabbi Naphtali Rubinger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1947: Rabbi Hillel Hochberg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1943 \u2013 1945: Rabbi M. Benjamin Sillman<\/strong>&nbsp;<em>(CKI\u2019s first full-time Rabbi)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-2\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"anchor\"><a name=\"rabbi\"><\/a><h3 id=\"rabbi\"><\/h3>&nbsp; <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rabbi Stephen Wylen<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-5\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Rabbi Wylen was at CKI from September of 2018 through  High Holiday services 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rabbi Wylen is a published author, combining his love of writing with his love of sharing Jewish teachings. His first book,&nbsp;<em>Settings of Silver<\/em>, has been for many years the most popular college introduction to Judaism, and is also used in many conversion and adult education classes. Rabbi Wylen also wrote a textbook for the Reform movement on the Jewish holidays &#8211;&nbsp;<em>The Book of the Jewish Year<\/em>. His popular work&nbsp;<em>The Jews in the Time of Jesus<\/em>&nbsp;generates an understanding of the founding years of both Christianity and Judaism. He has also written <em>The Seventy Faces of Torah<\/em>, <em>Gossip: The Power of the Word<\/em>, and his latest book, <em>You Should Know This: A Rabbi Explains Christianity to Jews. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"387\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/RabbiWylen.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/RabbiWylen.jpg 387w, https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/RabbiWylen-232x300.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rabbi Stephen Wylen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"anchor\"><a name=\"cantor\"><\/a><h3 id=\"cantor\"><\/h3>&nbsp; <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading anchor\">Cantor Eddie Roffman <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-8\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Cantor Roffman was at CKI from 2009 &#8211; 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He served as previously served as the Cantor at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Colonia, NJ, and at Congregation B&#8217;nai Israel in Basking Ridge, NJ, before coming to CKI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cantor Roffman loves teaching prayer, song, chant, and the myriad facets of our Jewish tradition to adults and children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/CantorEddie.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/CantorEddie.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/CantorEddie-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2007 \u2013 2018: Rabbi Jack Kramer 2006 \u2013 2007: Rabbi Steven Kirschner 1997 \u2013 2006: Rabbi William Kraus 1994: Rabbi Sheri Berger 1976 \u2013 1993:\u00a0Rabbi Aaron Decter 1967 \u2013 1976:\u00a0Rabbi David P. Prince 1967\u00a0\u2013 CKI became affiliated with the United Synagogue of America (later called the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism). 1955 \u2013 1966: Rabbi &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/spiritual-leaders\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Our Spiritual Leaders&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2064,"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/142\/revisions\/2064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ckibbnj.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}