Rabbi Ellen Wolintz-Fields reflects on the life lessons she received from her childhood rabbi, Benjamin Z. Kreitman.
Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields has served as Executive Director of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism since 2018. Prior to that, she led congregations in the Chicago area and in Tom’s River, NJ. She is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which sets policy on Jewish legal matters for Conservative Judaism. She graduated the Double-Degree Program between Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and received Rabbinic ordination from JTS.
Rabbi Wolintz-Fields has also served as the co-chair of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Women's Committee and is the Women’s League representative to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
She has been invited to deliver opening prayers at the United States House of Representatives, the New Jersey Senate, the New Egypt Speedway, and the Ocean County College Commencement. She can often be found reading, catching up on Daf Yomi (Daily Talmud study), cheering her daughter at her high school varsity basketball games, and during NASCAR season - watching with her son who is an avid fan!
Together with her husband Jonathan, they are the proud parents of three children, and live in Ocean Township, New Jersey.
A biography of Rabbi Wolintz-Fields’s teacher, Rabbi Benjamin Z Kreitman appears here: Obituary of Rabbi Benjamin Z. Kreitman
Editor's note: Subsequent to the publication of this episode, My Teacher Podcast received the following message from Jamie Kreitman, daughter of Rabbi Benjamin Z. Kreitman, that her father's date of birth noted in the Masorti Olami obituary and cited in the podcast discussion is incorrect. She said:
"[Rabbi Kreitman was born on] Dec. 27, 1918 in Warsaw, Poland. He emigrated with his mother when he was 3 years old and settled in Louisville, KY. His father, a rabbi and schochet, had already settled there with the rest of the Kreitman family."
Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms used in this conversation that were not promptly translated during interview:
Bashert—Yiddish term referring to a person's soulmate, especially when considered as an ideal or predestined marriage partner.
Bimah—platform or stage in synagogue from where prayers are led.
Kaddish—the Mourner’s Kaddish, a prayer traditionally recited at a funeral and in synagogue services during prescribed periods of mourning or on the anniversary of the death of a loved one.
Mesader Kiddushin—The officiant (usually a rabbi) presiding at a Jewish wedding
Madrikh—literally, “leader.” Also refers to a rabbi’s manual, a book with a collection of prayers for various occasions that rabbis carry with them for lifecycle events. Both usages included in this conversation.
Shul—synagogue, synagogue services