RABBI KAROL BRING RICH BACKGROUND TO TEMPLE ISRAEL DOVER

Rabbi Larry Karol joined Temple Israel on August 1, 2006 to serve as spiritual leader of the congregation.

Since his arrival in Dover, Rabbi Karol has continued to apply to his rabbinate his extensive experience in Jewish education and communal activities, innovative worship services, Jewish musical creativity and programming and community and multi-cultural and interfaith work.

His wife, Rhonda, is an experienced educator of young children who holds a masters degree in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University. Rhonda currently directs the pre-school at Temple Israel Portsmouth and serves on the faculty of the Temple Israel Dover Religious School

Their son, Adam, graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Music. Adam is currently on the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism Congregational Consulting Group, serving as a digital media assistant.

Rabbi Karol was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where both of his parents also were born and raised. His father and mother, Joseph and Ruth Karol, were active for 40 years at Congregation B'nai Jehudah in Kansas City, teaching religious school and serving as leaders of Temple auxiliaries. Rabbi Karol attended University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences (with a major in Sociology and a minor in Religious Studies).

He was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 1981, and has served congregations in Dayton, Ohio for three years as assistant rabbi and for 22 years as rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, Kansas.

At Temple Israel, Rabbi Karol assumes a wide range of responsibilities, including director of education, editor of the Kesher Newsletter, coordinator of music for worship, and other duties in the areas of leadership, learning, pastoral care and spiritual development. He sees himself as a partner with congregants in enhancing Jewish life in the congregation and bringing the best of Judaism and Jewish values to the greater Seacoast community.

In Topeka, his work in schools, on boards, on state commissions and as a major leader in the city's interfaith organization were hallmarks of his service to the community.

He is a member and former convener of the Dover Area Religious Leaders Association (DARLA) and the University of New Hampshire Chaplains group. He is serving on the Advisory Board for Spiritual Care at the Strafford County Correctional Facility and on the Institutional Review Board of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. He has also joined the board of the Seacoast United Jewish Appeal.

In the past seven years, Karol has become increasingly known for his musical contributions, both as a songwriter and performer. Many of his tunes have emerged from Scripture and have found an audience in Jewish and interfaith settings. He has released two compact disc recordings of original Jewish music, "Two are Better Than One" in 2003 and "A New Beginning" in 2005, and a songbook, “One Light Above: The Larry Karol Songbook” in 2007. Rabbi Karol continues to compose new songs, with many of them finding their way into Temple Israel worship.

Rabbi Karol believes that "the best way to be a part of the greater community is to add your own abilities and your knowledge and your core beliefs to the societal tapestry." In presenting his perspectives to people of various backgrounds, he has said, "For someone to understand my viewpoint, I have to present it in a way where people can digest it and consider it and ponder it. I have learned that this is a wise approach."

Rabbi Karol is leading music in the Religious School and teaching the B'nei Mitzvah class Hebrew and traditions related to this important rite of passage. He teaches a Judaism: Roots and Rituals course on Tuesday nights from November through March, leads study sessions on selected topics and facilitates a short Torah Discussion during the monthly Shabbat morning Learners’ Minyan. Rabbi Karol has instituted a Confirmation program one Wednesday a month when Religious School is in session for students from post-Bar/Bat Mitzvah age through high school. Since the spring of 2008, Rabbi Karol has presented a D’var Torah series on Friday nights, “More than Words: A Spiritual Lexicon,” featuring either a discussion or personal commentary on a word or root (and its many meanings) from the weekly Torah reading.

Rabbi Karol has organized congregants into a “Temple Israel Singers” group that participates in worship periodically and in community events. He leads a “Shabbat Service for Renewal of Spirit” once a month, featuring contemporary Jewish music and prayers for healing.

Rabbi Karol looks for to Temple Israel’s continued vitality and growth in the coming years!