By Ruth Thomas…

Wellington is more than just an orthodox Jewish community based in the city. That’s according to Rabbi Ariel Tal who has been the Wellington Jewish Community Centre’s Rabbi since 2018.

He has a bold five-year plan to expand the community into a thriving and sustainable Jewish community.

“Since I came here seven months ago, I have been reaching out to Jewish people elsewhere, especially in the South Island. I’ve visited Christchurch and Nelson. People from overseas also want to come here to live: it’s vibrant and very active.

“It’s a work in progress to expand and build a sustainable community with Wellington at its centre,” he says.

Thirty-six- year-old Rabbi Tal was born in New York. Aged 10, his family moved first to Toronto and then to Israel where he grew up and was educated. An experienced educator and marketing expert, he has worked both in North America and Israel.

Along the way he has taught in Toronto, trained as a personal life coach and created a successful leadership programme by cultivating relationships with key organisations in the Jewish world and Diaspora.

He has always wanted to be a community rabbi. “I thought I would be good at it,” he says simply.

Starting in the very small, orthodox Wellington congregation in New Zealand seemed the right place to fulfil his various aims. His family, wife Rachel and four daughters, Nechama (11), Shlomit (7), Emunah (5) and Aliza (2) are all now settled in central Wellington.

“I had always wanted to come to New Zealand, the home of the flightless bird, the Lord of the Rings and Avatar.”

The reaction to his plan in Israel was two-fold. “First, people have said ‘It’s so far. And secondly they haven said, ‘It’s so beautiful.’”

He agrees. It is far from Israel, he says, and it is beautiful. In his short time here, he has also travelled to Christchurch, Taupo, Blenheim and Ashburton on a mission to check factories to make sure they can be listed as kosher in the Kosher Kiwi directory,

He sees being the rabbi in Wellington as a privilege and is not worried that some people see the small congregation of about 360 as challenging.

“We have a few very religious members and the rest are traditional Jews,” he says. “But it’s a very active community with nice people.”

Life here is also very busy for a sole rabbi with minimal support staff. “Yes, life here is full on. There is so much to do. There’s Dot (in the office) me and the board and various volunteers.”

He is fully supportive of the planned new mikvah. He sees it as part of drawing people outside of New Zealand to Wellington and of building a sustainable Jewish infrastructure.

Another of his plans is to slowly introduce a different form of prayer.

The tefillah programme was part of a previous goal. Tefillah, he says, is praying. When he talks about praying he means self-reflection. The focus is on making prayer meaningful through introducing a self-help tool – a one-line mantra.

He explains, for example, that if you feel you are too lazy, the one-line would be something like “I want to live a vibrant life-style”. “You would carry this around as if in your wallet saying it again and again.”

He is introducing this slowly by devoting 10 minutes in the Shabbat service. “It’s too early to gauge its success,” he says.

It is not all work for Rabbi Tal. He likes to cycle around Wellington. He has cycled to Karori and Evans Bay so far. When he describes cycling he does not mean an electric bike. “Electric bikes are not real bikes,” he says.

As well, he plays the guitar. He has been playing for 24 years, mainly Jewish music.

And then of course there are his four daughters. Aliza, aged two, loves to listen to his playing ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star.’ “No, not the usual rendition of the song. She likes a heavy metal version,” he says, with a smile.

[PHOTO: Rabbi Tal loves to play the guitar.]