Rabbi Challenges People to Grow Spiritually
By Nancy Needham - Thousand Oaks Acorn, September 13, 2007
Rabbi Ted Riter's journey to becoming Temple Adat Elohim's senior rabbi began as a youth growing up in Texas. That's when he realized he wanted to make the world a better place.
As a member of the Reform branch of Judaism, Riter's passion for tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase for repairing/healing the world, was nurtured at youth camps here and in Israel.
His father, Stephen Riter, had been a university professor of electrical engineering and computer science in College Station, Texas. But when Riter was 12, his family- father, mother and sister- moved to El Paso, where his father became a provost at the University of Texas, El Paso.
"We went from a city with 40 Jewish families to one with 800 Jewish families," he recalled.
Riter earned his undergraduate degree in political economics from Tulane University in New Orleans. He then served in Washington, D.C., as a legislative assistant for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Americans for Peace Now. He earned his master's in Hebrew letters and his smicha, or ordination, from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1997.
He realized there were a number of professions he could have pursued to make a difference for others but knew what path he should take.
"My calling was to become a rabbi," Riter said.
While at Hebrew Union College he served as a chaplain at a hospital where he sat with patients, held their hands, listened and prayed. That's when he came to another understanding of tikkun olam and realized the importance of changing one person's world at a time, he said.
Prior to coming to Thousand Oaks in 2005 with his wife, Corey Rubin, Riter served the Jewish community of San Diego for eight years.
Now he is the rabbi for about 700 families, or 2,600 individuals, with many varied interests. Firmly a part of the Reform movement, he believes in the idea of constantly challenging people to grow spiritually to ensure Judaism is always relevant to them, he said.
"There is no 'ed' at the end of Reform. The reform didn't stop. I would like people to know we are not like the Reform synagogue down the street from them when they grew up 20 or 40 years ago," Riter said.
Through study and serious consideration, new meaning and value has been placed on traditions such as dietary policies. Prayer has more Hebrew in it. Ancient text is studied, he said.
"It's a privilege to be a part of people's private lives- their intimate and sacred moments- to guide them along life's path and watch people develop and blossom," Riter said.
