Long Island native Rabbi Sharon Ballan has been named to head the congregation of Temple Beth Sholom, at 174th Street and Northern Boulevard in Flushing.
“It feels wonderful,” Rabbi Ballan said. “Hopefully I can help grow the congregation – help it grow stronger both physically and spiritually,” she added.
Rabbi Ballan, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University as a Communications major with a minor in Fine Art, came to her congregation via an indirect route. She worked in the advertizing and marketing industry.
But, in 1995, she joined Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, Long Island because she felt it was important to give her daughter a Jewish education.
As she became more involved, attending services regularly, joining the choir, then the board of directors of the Temple, Ballan decided to enroll in Hebrew Union College’s Kollel program, where she learned to study Jewish texts in Hebrew.
After several years of teaching Judaica at Temple Emanu-El, at the urging of her Rabbi, Stuart Geller, she applied to The Academy for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, and received rabbinic ordination in May.
Rabbi Ballan has tutored boys and girls for their b’nei mitzvah at Hollis Hills Jewish Center in Flushing and has also taught at Little Neck Jewish Center, as well as at Gettysburg College, Wilson College and Penn State Mont Alto, where she conducted lectures on Judaism and Women in the Rabbinate.
“The congregation is 60 years old,” Rabbi Ballan pointed out. “Even with the demographic changes in Flushing, I hope it will continue 60 more years at least.”
