Rabbi takes leap of faith in new Greensburg post

Rabbi Stacy Petersohn remembers where she was the day she decided what she wanted to do with her life.

“I was in the fourth grade. My mom and I were driving home from religious school one day after choir. I turned to my mom and said, ‘I think I want to be a rabbi someday,' ” she recalled. “She gave me that look that parents give, of like, ‘Uh-huh, you do whatever you want, sweetie.' But in the back of her head, she's thinking, ‘You're going to change your mind next week.' ”

Petersohn, 30, of San Jose, Calif., did not change her mind. Today, she is the new rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg. She succeeds Rabbi Sara Perman, 66, who retired in June after 31 years at the Reform Jewish synagogue.

Two weeks into her job, Petersohn, a lifelong Californian, said she is still adjusting to the culture shock of living in Western Pennsylvania and experiencing the humidity of its summers. The urban sprawl of Los Angeles, where she attended rabbinic school, or the San Francisco Bay area, where she grew up, is nonexistent in Westmoreland County, she observed.

Since Greensburg is her first full-time assignment, Petersohn is taking a cautious approach to her duties at the small congregation.

“My priorities are to strike a balance between what the congregation has always done and what I've always done,” she said. “We have our own style of Reform Judaism (in California) that looks very different from the Midwest.”

Petersohn grew up in an interfaith household. Her father was Catholic, her mother Jewish. Siblings from her father's first marriage were raised Baptist. The family had a Christmas tree but also observed Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays.

“We tried to be as inclusive as possible,” she said.

Judaism became more of a feature of family life when Petersohn was 8 or 9. She had attended a cousin's bat mitzvah in Los Angeles and was changed by the experience.

“My cousin gets up there and she starts chanting from the Torah, and I'm completely mesmerized. I think it's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. I turn to my mom and I said, ‘I want to do that,' ” she said. “Something inside me was like, ‘This is part of who you are.' ”

The family started attending a Reform synagogue in Fremont, Calif., and Petersohn became active in the choir, religious school and youth group.

“I was the nerdy kid who really loved Sunday school. I was just soaking everything in,” she said.

Even after her bat mitzvah at 13, Petersohn stayed active as a teacher's assistant in religious school. As a teenager, she faithfully went to Jewish camp in the summertime.

By high school, Petersohn had settled on the fact that she wanted to be a teacher, lawyer or social worker. Then it dawned on her: “Why not just be a rabbi — I can do all three jobs in one.”

Petersohn attended the University of San Francisco and, upon graduation, got her first taste of Israel at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a “pluralistic, egalitarian” yeshiva in Jerusalem. There, she was exposed to more conservative branches of Judaism.

“It required a ton out of me in terms of communal-space practice — little things on Shabbat like not touching the light switches … or not heating water for tea,” she said.

Petersohn returned to the United States and began her rabbinic studies at the Los Angeles campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She did the five-year program, including a year in Israel, and completed a sixth year for her master's in Jewish education. She graduated in May, completing her master's thesis on the Babylonian Talmud's texts on fasting.

Petersohn learned about the Greensburg opening through the Central Conference of American Rabbis job board. She interviewed with the congregation's search committee via Skype and then in person. The committee recommended her hiring to the board of trustees and then to the full congregation.

Search committee member Mitch Goldstein said the congregation received 12 applications, and Petersohn was one of two finalists.

“We just liked her attitude,” he said. “She's got youth and vitality. She seems excited to help us build our community, and she seemed the most into becoming part of our community.”

The congregation also considered Petersohn's communication skills, especially with social media.

“She has a natural way of talking about things. We're very happy to have her,” Goldstein said.

Petersohn said she is working with a congregation that wants to try something new.

“There's not a sense of worrying about failure,” she said. “I hope new people will come check us out.”

Stephen Huba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1280 or shuba@tribweb.com.