About Rabbi Yechiel (Joel N. Buchband) Rabbi Yechiel comes to Cong. Shaaray Shalom with a lifetime of Jewish experience in his family, in the communities in America and Israel in which he has taken a leadership role, and in the learning environments
in which he has grown to be a committed Jew, a gifted teacher, an empathetic pastor and a spiritual leader who strives to share his love of living Judaism with our synagogue family.
Conservative Judaism has been at the center of Yechiel’s spiritual life, and shapes his commitment to authentic, traditional Jewish observance and belief, combined with the understanding that Judaism responds to the challenges of the 21st century with openness and the ability to learn and grow in this time and place, as our Torah has done over the millennia.
Rabbi Yechiel grew up in Woodbridge, New Jersey, studied in New York and Jerusalem, and has made his home in America and in Israel; but his soul and his identity is deeply tied to the life, the history and the destiny of the Jewish People. It was this self-understanding that led him to live twenty years of his life in Israel, and to devote his career to serving the Jewish People and our community.
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From his youth, Yechiel was moved to take an active role in synagogue life – as a prayer leader and Torah reader, and a regional leader in the United Synagogue Youth (USY). It was with his rabbi’s family, and with USY, that Yechiel began to appreciate the beauty and depth of the Jewish way of life, and then had his first encounter with the land and the people of Israel, on USY Israel Pilgrimage.
His college years were spent on the Upper West Side, where he lived, studied and was part of the intense Jewish community of the Jewish Theological Seminary. While earning a BA there in Judaic Studies, Yechiel also received a degree in History at Columbia University.
The fulfillment of millennial hopes in our people’s return to the land of Israel, and the growth there of a new state and a thriving Jewish society which is home to millions of Jews – this is the uniquely compelling Jewish experience of our times. Yechiel resolved to make Israel his home; he was to live in Israel for twenty years. In Israel Yechiel continued his life-long Jewish learning at the Schechter Institute (the Conservative seminary in Jerusalem) and at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s branch in Tel Aviv, and came to embrace the idea that Torah is the fundamental source of Jewish life, and that helping Jews engage with Torah once again, as a powerful and vital force in their lives is the central challenge of our time. Yechiel was inspired to take up this challenge and devote himself to sharing the richness of Jewish living and learning with his fellow Jews.
In Israel, Yechiel began his career in synagogue life as the quasi-rabbinic leader of Tiferet Shalom, a Masorati (Conservative) community in north Tel Aviv. It was while serving the people of Tiferet Shalom for fourteen years – teaching and learning with people of every age – that the rabbinate found Yechiel.
In striving to complete his rabbinic training, Yechiel returned to the New York area in 2003 to study at the Academy for Jewish Religion. As a member of its pluralistic community, with students and teachers, rabbis and cantors from across the Jewish spectrum – Yechiel feels blessed to be part of AJR’s unique community and is proud to have received his Smichah (ordination) there in May 2007.
Rabbi Yechiel has navigated and provided leadership for the consolidation of a succession of congregations, melding together their respective services, celebrations, programs and study series into a powerful communal experience. Yechiel is committed to carrying this work forward in our new congregation, Shaaray Shalom, which serves a community of Jewish people living in southwest Nassau County, building on its solid history and looking toward a vibrant future. Rabbi Yechiel enjoys serving our synagogue community.
He brings his warmth and learning to teaching in our adult education program. He brings his enthusiasm and devotion to leading us in prayer and in Torah study on Shabbat. And as counselor and chaplain, his understanding, empathetic and caring nature are a source of strength and solace as we face life’s challenges, joys and sorrows. Rabbi Yechiel is a gifted and devoted spiritual leader of whom we are justly proud and who is proud to serve our community.
Hillel says: Be a disciple of Aaron – loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and helping them become close with the Torah. (Pirkey Avot 1:12)
