Published: Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009
Norman Mendel is retiring as a rabbi but not as a teacher
Norman Mendel is leaving Congregation Beth David after 11 years, but he’ll keep sharing his knowledge at temple and Cuesta College
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closeSince Rabbi Norman Mendel began teaching decades ago, he has branched off in several directions.
The rabbi, who retired from San Luis Obispo’s Congregation Beth David last week after 11 years of service, says that’s just part of who he is.
“Teaching is a natural part of what a rabbi does,” Mendel said. “It’s interacting with people and sharing knowledge with them that they can then put in the mix of their own lives to use.”
His colleagues speak highly of Mendel, who has been a rabbi for 42 years, teaching in places such as Carmel, South Africa and Kansas City.
They say he’s a smart, grounded individual who rarely had to use notes in his sermons or lessons.
He moved to the area in 1998 from a job as vice president at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte.
Mendel taught Judaism, biomedical ethics and philosophy as a Cal Poly lecturer from 1997 to 2007, and he continues to teach philosophy and religion at Cuesta College. He volunteers time as a founding member of the Central Coast Clergy and Laiety for Justice and as a member of Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center Ethics Committee in San Luis Obispo, among others.
At Congregation Beth David, the 67-year-old San Luis Obispo resident led a congregation that almost tripled in size during his tenure. The temple now serves about 270 families, he said — almost 800 people.
“The thing that amazes me about him is his depth and breadth of historical knowledge,” said Marsha Lifter, a past president of Congregation Beth David’s board of trustees. She also retired last week, as principal of the congregation’s Religious School.
“You can give him a topic, and he can do an hour on it.”
Mendel also helped build the congregation’s new temple at 10180 Los Osos Valley Road that has won accolades nationally.
It was the county’s first new construction commercial building to earn LEED designation by the U.S. Green Building Council and the first synagogue in the nation to reach LEED certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a point-based system to identify buildings that meet certain environmental standards.
The synagogue, built in 2007, was designed with efficient use of energy, lighting and water, and featured natural ventilation, solar heating and straw-bale construction.
“Without his leadership, I don’t think we could have got our new building and we wouldn’t have grown in the ways we have,” said Susan Dressler, immediate past co-president of the temple’s board. “When you have a charismatic leader, people are able to move forward with things they never thought possible.”
Even after retirement, Mendel will continue his relationship with Congregation Beth David as a rabbi emeritus, he said, though he’s not yet exactly sure how.
The new leader
Rabbi Scott Corngold, a Los Angeles native, has assumed Mendel’s former leadership role at the synagogue and will be welcomed by the congregation Friday evening.
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