At a NYC Temple Proud of Its Traditions, a New Rabbi With ‘Alternative’ Ideas

THE NEW YORK TIMES 
By Sharon Otterman

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, 45, is the newly installed senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The rabbi has already broken with some of the temple’s customs.

NEW YORK---Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, the new senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Temple Emanu-El is a place that prides itself on tradition. It still uses a version of the original Reform prayer book, and dresses its clergy in robes. It conceals its choir above the congregation, near the organ console at its enormous Fifth Avenue sanctuary, so that prayers seem to float from the heavens. But Rabbi Davidson has already begun making his mark. He broke with an older Reform tradition of not wearing a Jewish skullcap and prayer shawl, by wearing them when he began to lead services this summer — resulting in an audible gasp from the congregation. But he also wore his robes, in a sign that custom and change could go hand in hand. [link]