Manetto Hill Jewish Center to Install New Rabbi

Plainview’s Manetto Hill Jewish Center will install Rabbi Neil Schuman as the congregation’s new spiritual leader on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Rabbi Schuman, or “Rabbi Neil” as he likes to be called, received his Rabbinic ordination in 1998, having previously obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Talmudic Law in 1995. His love of teaching also propelled him to obtain a Master’s degree in Jewish Education in 2012.

Rabbi Neil worked at a number of synagogues before coming to Manetto Hill Jewish Center. From 2001 to 2003, he served as the rabbi of Congregation Ohawe Sholam in Rhode Island, where he started a children’s program and reinvigorated Friday night services. His accomplishments as rabbi of Congregation Children of Israel in Ohio from 2004 to 2007 included the organization of community-wide cross-denominational holiday gatherings. His leadership led to the formation of a musical rabbinic band, a teen band and the institution of educational programs for teens and adults.

His inroads in education and his involvement in Interfaith Clergy continued when he assumed the pulpit at Congregation Beth El in New Jersey in 2009, where he remained until August, 2014. Under Rabbi Neil, membership grew as did attendance at services and classes by more than 40 percent.

During his tenure at Congregation Beth El that Rabbi Neil began to explore Conservative Jewish thought. Until then, he had always adhered to the tenets of Orthodox Judaism.

“Orthodoxy succeeds in its love for Torah and tradition, but it fails to understand the evolution of Judaism’s own history,” he said.

“Likewise, Orthodoxy is not open enough to recognize where Jewish tradition could gain from outside spiritual practices and ideologies,” he added. “Much of Jewish Law is based upon the lifestyle of the 4th Century, the period when the Talmud was edited. Can we superimpose those ideals on the men and women of the 21st century and assume they’re going to be satisfied?”

Rabbi Neil’s own answer to that question was “no,” and so he began to learn more about Conservative philosophies. In doing so, he saw the evolution of women in Judaism and realized that egalitarian Judaism was the right path.

Now, as the spiritual leader at Manetto Hill Jewish Center, a Conservative egalitarian synagogue, Rabbi Neil is infusing music into holiday celebrations and bringing his love of learning to the congregation.

He continued his inroads into the Interfaith Clergy. At a Thanksgiving service, run by the Interfaith Clergy, he talked about the effect his involvement in the Interfaith Clergy in New Jersey had on him.

“It was in those intimate clergy luncheons, where I learned that we have so much in common,” he said at the time.

“We all strive to teach our parishioners about the love of G-d, try to console them in their times of struggle, and rejoice with them in their times of joy,” he added. “We all share the same challenges reaching out to our members.”

It is those values and sentiments that Rabbi Neil is bringing to Manetto Hill Jewish Center. 

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