Vermont rabbi quits under fire

©By Ted Cohen/Patch.com©

The head of Vermont's largest synagogue has resigned in the wake of a bitter ideological dispute with the board of directors.

Rabbi Aaron Philmus gave no reason for his immediate departure.

Nor did his boss, Jeff Potash, chairman of the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue board.

"We have made the decision to part ways, effective immediately," was the best Potash could muster.

Philmus, rabbi for less than two years, had been under fire at the conservative synagogue for his Zionist rhetoric.

He refused to make any apologies for Israel, suggesting that the real threat to Judaism is the Palestinians and Hamas.

Potash believed that Philmus had a duty to dial down his pro-Israel zealotry.

If Philmus believes he got the shaft for speaking frankly about his unwavering, uncompromised support for Israel, he wasn't ready to spill the beans.

"As is common when a clergy person departs, there is often speculation regarding the reasons behind their departure," he said in a rehearsed, sanitized statement.

Philmus added, "In this situation, no one issue led to the decision for me to no longer remain the rabbi. Rather, the board and I examined the totality of mutual issues in arriving at this."

By the time Philmus had posted his farewell to his "friends," Potash had ordered the rabbi's bio scrubbed from the temple's website.

The departing rabbi's bio was immediately replaced with Cantor Jessica Silverberg, who is Philmus' numerical successor.

Although cantors are schooled in Jewish culture, they lack the academic credentials of rabbis.

Neither Potash nor Philmus disclosed the financial terms of settlement for the rabbi's sudden and so-far unexplained departure.

The amount of his severance payment and the date by which he and his wife and children were ordered to vacate their synagogue-supplied North Street home is all information that Potash is refusing to disclose to the public.

A legal battle between Philmus and his bosses erupted in the wake of synagogue members who have been bitterly divided over the rabbi's unwavering defense of Israel, with influential members offended by his hard line.

The board has refused to draw a defining line on Jewish sovereignty, calling for compromise with Palestinians.

The debate has spilled over to the rabbi's belief that the temple's school is soft-peddling Jewish teachings.

The dispute was further sharpened by the rabbi's stance that the temple's pre-school needed new direction - if it were to remain in business at all.

Philmus, a New Jersey native, was teaching in Kansas and had previously been a rabbi at several congregations across the country before he was hired in 2023 to succeed Rabbi Amy Small, who also left before she hoped to.

The board of directors has kept synagogue members completely in the dark on the real reasons that Small and Philmus were pushed out the door.

Potash at one point even called on a pedantic member of the board to issue congregants a condescending lecture on why they aren't smart enough to be entrusted with basic information.