The New Congregation B'nai Tikvah
830 South Melrose Drive
Vista, California 92081
(760)941-9858
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Our Rabbi, Ben Leinow was born, raised and educated in the West Hollywood section of Los Angeles, he is a California westerner. He enjoys and appreciates the out of doors. Rabbi Ben feels spiritually connected to ocean, desert and mountains as a result of hiking and camping in the San Bernardino Mountains, swimming the L. A. beaches, and taking school breaks with friends in Palm Springs.
In addition to the out of doors, Rabbi Ben had an unusual Jewish experience in his youth and young adult life. He was trained as an orthodox and secular Jew at the same time. His maternal grandfather was an active orthodox Jew while his paternal grandfather was an active secular Jew. The mixture of the two extremes of Judaism has been an important mix in his providing leadership for the modern Jew. He believes today’s Jew is a combination of spiritual and secular needs, and often driven in one direction and pulled in the other.
After graduating from Fairfax High School, Rabbi Ben completed his BA in Economics at University of California at Santa Barbara, and went on for his Masters in Economics at UCLA. He wanted to teach Economics. While at UCLA he worked for Hillel Foundation at UCLA, and his Hillel experience moved him in the direction of becoming a Rabbi. He began his rabbinic studies at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, and at the end of five years of training was ordained at HUC - JIR in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cincinnati campus was a very stimulating environment, with its early history of the Reform Movement in the United States, and Dr. Nelson Glueck, the famous Archeologist as President of the College. After graduation Rabbi Ben was chosen to be Regional Director of the Canadian Council of Reform Congregations.
Following his Canadian experience, the next major rabbinic responsibility for Rabbi Ben was at Temple Israel of Hollywood. TI was known as the Temple of the Stars, because many of the Hollywood movie stars, producers and directors were members of the congregation. It would be no surprise to stand on the pulpit and see popular leaders in the industry sitting in the congregation with the same spiritual needs as anyone else. It was an unusual and special experience for Rabbi Ben to participate in the funeral of Edward G. Robinson with Charlton Heston presenting the eulogy.
While at Temple Israel, Rabbi Ben became very interested in Pastoral Counseling. He began a special course at Loyola University in West Los Angeles, and eventually earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Rabbi Ben’s interest turned toward helping couples that had good marriages. By teaching couples how to communicate Rabbi Ben believed they would have a successful future. Rabbi Ben worked with a priest to create, develop and found the experience known as Jewish Marriage Encounter.
For about ten years Rabbi Ben developed his clinical skill, and filled in for rabbinic colleagues when they needed to be away from their pulpits. He became licensed in California as a Marriage Family Therapist, and in Oklahoma as Licensed Professional Counselor. He is a nationally certified counselor, a Certified Sex Therapist, Certified Sex Educator, and Hypnotherapist. Rabbi Ben believes we all carry a bag of experiences that sometimes influences us to behave in a way we might regret. We tend to behave in the way we know best rather than the way best for us and our family and friends. Rabbi Ben believes we can change the pattern of our behavior if we are strongly motivated.
During the last seventeen years Rabbi Ben has worked with the poor, homeless and the mentally ill. He worked for an agency named Interfaith Community Services. It is an organization made up of over 400 Faith Communities. The Faith Communities are made up of Churches, Temples, Synagogues and Shrines. ICS pools its resources to provide food, clothing, housing, training and therapy, and it works with the discouraged, alcohol and drug addicted, single mothers with two to five children and the mentally ill. Rabbi Ben was Clinical Director of all Mental Health Services and Director of Program Development for Interfaith; as Director he utilized his background as a Rabbi and a Therapist.
While working for Interfaith Dr. Ben Leinow developed an interest in assisting the growth of Palomar Hospital. He became a member of the Escondido Health Care Advisory Council, and eventually became Chairperson of the committee. During the eleven years working with the Council they raised the money necessary to build the Escondido Wellness Center. In 1993 Dr. Ben became a member of the Palomar Hospital Investigative Review Committee (Board). He was an active member of the Review Committee until 2004 when he took a leave of absence to pursue other interests. He was recently told that they would like him to be active again.
Another area of Interest is that Rabbi Ben provides services for interfaith and same gender couples. He is one of the few Rabbis who will conduct a wedding between Jew and non-Jew. In addition he will co-officiate with other faith clergy. Rabbi Ben, of course, does not advocate interfaith marriage, but he does recognize the social situation that encourages relationships based upon all areas of compatibility. Rabbi Ben ministers to the need of both the Jew and the non-Jew in an interfaith marriage. It is possible that the interfaith relationship is a microcosm of our society. Just as each couple struggles to perceive God within its midst, so too society is struggling to find perspectives of God which allows for each particular sect to understand God. It is Rabbi Ben’s belief that the interfaith couple contributes to the maintenance of the Jewish people in many ways, and may even be a strong source of survival for Judaism.
In January 2009, Rabbi Ben came to B’nai Tikvah as the congregation’s Rabbi. Rabbi Ben envisions BT as a community Synagogue - available to all people with spiritual needs. Whether it is a traditionally oriented Shabbat morning service or a Friday evening liberal service, our religious home will be comfortable, meaningful and fit the needs of anyone who comes through our doors. Rabbi Ben sees BT as a green synagogue where the children can plant tomatoes and leafy veggies in our soon to be made vegetable patch. It is Rabbi Ben's dream that we become a group of friends at ease learning from each other, and all feeling welcome under the same roof.