Rabbi Steven Bayar believes teaching from the pulpit is the least effective way to educate, so he’s taken on other methods.
A member of the Rabbinical Assembly and Rabbis Without Borders, Bayar has written dozens of curricula on a variety of Jewish topics that are being used in 900 educational settings in the United States, South America and Israel. His first curriculum explored Jewish theology through science fiction and fantasy, Bayar’s favorite book genres. He is trained as a hospice chaplain.
Bayar joined Potomac’s Congregation B’nai Tzedek as interim rabbi in July, his third interim position. He lives in Potomac and has three adult daughters. When he’s not working, he’s often reading or writing.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I was raised in Monsey, New York, and I went to yeshiva in Monsey until I was 15, then my parents moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. I left yeshiva after seventh grade, and then I was in public school in Charlottesville. I consider Charlottesville my home and I went to the University of Virginia as an accounting major. I saved the world from having a really, really bad accountant and ended up going to seminary; I was a graduate of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
My first pulpit was in Greenbelt, Maryland, for five years. I was in Rockland County in New York for three years, and then I took pulpit in Millburn, [New Jersey] for 30 years. I’m the rabbi emeritus of Congregation B’nai Israel in Millburn, and I retired in 2019 and taught day school for three years, then started doing interim rabbi positions.
Have you always envisioned yourself as a rabbi?
No, I envisioned myself as an accountant. [But] I’m really bad at numbers. So I changed my major from accounting to religious studies at UVA, and when I was looking for graduate schools, my advisors told me I should go to seminary first, so I went to seminary, and here I am.
What does a day in your life look like as an interim rabbi?
I do anything a rabbi would do. The only difference is that my goal is to help the congregation transition from its current status to the next rabbi. In this case, Rabbi [Stuart] Weinblatt was not only the founder, but senior rabbi for almost 40 years; it’s hard for a congregation to wrap its head around having a new rabbi, so I’m the connector. I help them look for rabbinical candidates, and I basically keep the congregation running until they can decide what they want. I keep the programs running; I provide programs.
What is the most rewarding part of your role at B’nai Tzedek?
Working with people because that’s what we’re supposed to do as rabbis; we’re supposed to bring people closer to our tradition and we’re supposed to make our tradition accessible. That’s what I find the most rewarding.
You’ve written books about Jewish education and teaching our younger generation. Why is this an important topic?
I think rabbis should be educators as well, and I think education should be a large part of what we rabbis do. That’s always been an interest of mine. When I got into the rabbinate, I found that the teaching aspect was one of the most important aspects that most rabbis don’t necessarily think about. When we talk on the pulpit during a service or during the High Holidays, most rabbis don’t take that as a teaching opportunity. They take it as an opportunity to give their opinion about what should or should not be done. I’ve always thought of that more as a teaching opportunity, rather than giving a personal opinion or personal ethics or political commentary.
We should be teaching as much as possible, and in that teaching, we can impart how we feel. The imparting of knowledge is a gift that can’t be underestimated.
What specific values of Judaism do you want to pass down to the next generation?
I don’t think it really matters as much as I want to impart the traditions to the next generation. What they actually retain from what I teach is their decision based on what their interests are. What I try to do is to teach as widely as possible and to have and create experiences from a wide variety of the tradition. There’s no one area that I think is more important. It’s just to try to teach as much as possible.
What’s something you’ve taught that you find interesting?
We’re talking about Chanukah right now, and most people don’t realize that the Chanukah that we celebrate is not reflected in the Books of Maccabees. The Books of Maccabees are not part of our biblical tradition because they show a Judaism that is no longer acceptable. If we take a look at what Chanukah is right now, we have to peel back multiple layers of tradition that built one upon the other until we get back to why Chanukah [is] celebrated the way it is right now [and not] the original in the Books of Maccabees.
The whole reason it’s eight days long is because they couldn’t celebrate Sukkot years prior, and therefore they celebrated Sukkot at this time of year. To me, that’s fascinating, questions of, “Why did we do it?” “How did we do it?” And we do it still. In researching those questions, or in examining the tradition as to why we don’t do that anymore, we learn a tremendous amount about how the tradition was created.
