Rabbi Eve Posen, Congregation Neveh Shalom’s first female Senior Rabbi, had not intended to be a Senior Rabbi, or a pulpit rabbi of any sort, when she left rabbinical school. That sentiment still holds true with one significant exception. 

“I wouldn’t do it anywhere but here,” she said of her appointment, “because I love this place.”

Based on the sentiments expressed by the capacity crowd in Birnbach Hall at the synagogue for her installation ceremony Sunday, Nov 16, the feeling is mutual. 

Rabbi Posen had not planned on becoming one of the first women to lead a large Conservative synagogue when she came here in 2014. She took on a two-year appointment as Rabbinic Educator and Youth Director. Two years turned into 11 (and counting) as she became assistant, then associate, now senior rabbi.

“I’ve been given the opportunity here to try it and find that I really actually love pulpit work and being a part of the community in this way,” she said. “As I’ve grown in my rabbinate, I’ve grown as a human and it’s all been here. I have the relationships. I know the people. It’s a natural fit to after 11 years step into this role of senior rabbi because I’m grounded in the congregation. I don’t know that I would feel that way about somewhere else.”

The weekend’s festivities, planned largely by Neveh Shalom’s staff, centered around the idea of new light – Or Hadash, in Hebrew – and concluded with a belated Havdalah service at the end of her installation Sunday evening. The theme echoes a concept from Psalm 97 of Or Zaruah (light planted for the righteous) which has been part of Rabbi Posen’s life at multiple turns, including her father’s funeral and her own ordination. 

“This idea of light has always been a part of how I’ve been envisioned by others,” she said. “As Jews, we use fire, we use light to differentiate time and space, and so making this about the light and the way in which multiple wicks of a Havdalah candle come together in shared passion, matches who I am and my belief in communities.”

The festivities started with a Kabbalat Shabbat service reminiscent of Neveh Shalom’s Shabbat on the Plaza services in the summer, held inside in a concession to the Oregon weather, with a celebratory dinner of Rabbi Posen’s favorites – chicken fingers and French fries. 

“I’ve always said that if I ever was gifted a celebration at Neveh Shalom, I wanted to have chicken fingers and French fries, because I love chicken fingers and as I keep kosher, I cannot get them in Portland unless Alan Levine is making them,” Rabbi Posen said.

Saturday morning, she was passed a torah scroll at services, which she walked through the congregation with. Sunday evening, she was lauded from Birnbach Hall’s stage by Cantor Eyal Bitton, Rabbi Emeritus Daniel Isaak,  Neveh Shalom President Mark Kalenscher, Leah Conley, Eddy Shuldman, Sage Chapman, Nadine Gartner, Ben Olds, Lidia Krivoy and Raul Krivoy before receiving the priestly blessing from Rabbi Isaak, whose retirement announcement and transition plan had sparked her hiring more than a decade ago. 

“Ever since you stepped into this congregation, your light has shone brightly,” Gartner said to Rabbi Posen.

And while the congregation’s gift to Rabbi Posen on the occasion, an intricate blown-glass light fixture, is already mounted on the wall in her office, her hope is that as senior rabbi, she’ll be anything but. 

“The word ,’installation’ is still very uncomfortable because it sounds like you’re installed, like putting me in a light socket or hanging me on a hook or placing me on a pedestal,” she told The Jewish Review. “That’s not how I’m comfortable, but that’s also not how I view this position. I view this as we’re doing this together in community, and my job is to have all the strands and hold them together and bring us forward.”