Temple Kol Emeth Rabbi Sernovitz resigns for college post

After three years, Rabbi Larry Sernovitz of the Temple Kol Emeth synagogue is leaving.

In a video presentation and an e-mail to the congregation on Tuesday, Kol Emeth President Jodi Roberts said Sernovitz will step down effective June 30 to become the chief executive officer of Hillels of Georgia, which works with undergraduate students at 24 colleges and universities in the state.

Speaking with congregation members and retired Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow behind her in the synagogue sanctuary, Roberts said that Sernovitz is taking a “dream job” and that “and we support him in making the best decision for his family. We are excited that he and his family will continue to be members of the Temple Kol Emeth family as they have become an integral part of our community—community they have come to love.”

Sernovitz was not in attendance but spoke in a recorded message from an unspecified remote location.

“It has been an incredible three years,” Sernovitz said. “We have gotten through COVID, we have raised enough money to pay off the mortgage, we have doubled the size of our religious school, stabilized our finances. We are in amazing shape.”

He said that the opportunity with Hillel “is not something I looked for, but it’s chance of a lifetime to make an impact on the frontlines of the Jewish community.”

Sernovitz was tapped to succeed Lebow, the Reform Jewish congregation’s first full-time rabbi, in 2020. Sernovitz came to Kol Emeth from Cherry Hill, N.J., where he was a police chaplain and was a rabbi for non-affiliated Jews.

Several months into his tenure, Sernovitz presided over a community response to several anti-Semitic incidents, including swastika graffiti posted in an East Cobb neighborhood in 2020 and swastikas spray-painted at Pope and Lassiter high schools in 2021.

He spoke to Pope students and invited then-Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn to Kol Emeth’s Yom Kippur service, where he held the Torah.

Sernovitz continued the long-standing Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service begun by Lebow. At the 2022 service, Sernovitz delivered a reflection that sharing fellowship across many faiths isn’t enough.

“This isn’t a show. This is a call to action.”

In recalling the tale of Abraham smashing idols, he said that “we live in a world that still worships idols . . . and doesn’t value people like we need to.

“Our faith has to stand for something. If our faith doesn’t stand for humanity, it’s not faith, it’s politics.”

Roberts said that Kol Emeth will appoint an interim rabbi while it searches for Sernovitz’ successor, a process that could take a year.

“We have a strong leadership team that will guide us into this exciting new phase at Temple Kol Emeth,” she said.

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• At East Cobb service, ‘our faith has to stand for something’

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