Cantor Kelly Onickel
As I am writing this article, I am exactly two weeks out from ordination. So many of you have already become sponsors in honor of this very important time in my life. I cannot thank you all enough. I know I have said this many times before, but I feel so incredibly blessed! It was B’sheirt that God led me to look on JewishJobs.com and found Temple Beth Shalom’s listing just a few days before Rabbi Birnholz was planning to take it down. I knew after my interview that Temple Beth Shalom was a very special place, and even if I didn’t get the job, I just had a wonderful experience that I would never forget. These past few years have been challenging for this congregation. I truly believe that God wanted me to find you so that I could be here for the congregation as it transitioned and so you could be here for me as I transition from student to clergy.
For my ordination I chose this pasuk from Ruth:
אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעׇזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹהַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹהָֽי׃
“Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Ruth says this to her mother-in-law, Naomi, when she tells Ruth to go back to her family. This pasuk means a great deal to me as someone who converted to Judaism and chooses Judaism every day. It now has a deeper meaning for me as I feel I have truly found my people!
Thank you so much for all your support over the past almost three years! When you read this article, I will be an Ordained Cantor-Rabbi and have been officially installed as your Cantor! I am so looking forward to the clergy relationship I am building with Rabbi Rose, and can’t wait to see what we, all of us together, can build in this congregation and the community at large.
Cantor-Rabbi Kelly Onickel