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The RKs
The truth must be known: Some of the Bay Area's most highly respected rabbis enjoyed misbehaving in Hebrew school.
Rabbi Leslie Alexander, director of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley and the daughter of Rabbi Theodore Alexander, admits to causing frequent trouble around her father's synagogue, Congregation B'nai Emunah in San Francisco, where he served for 38 years until retiring in 2006.
"I liked being bad," says Alexander, 52. "Let's just say some of my behavior was not ideal for the child of a rabbi."
Alexander says she wanted nothing to do with Judaism as a young girl. She remembers scoffing at the way her parents scoured the house for Passover, and vowing never to observe the holiday in such a way.
Obviously, things have changed for her.
Rabbi Daniel Pressman, senior rabbi at Conservative Congregation Beth David in Saratoga and the son of Rabbi Jacob Pressman, recalls acting up with his friends during Hebrew High classes in Los Angeles.
Despite being the rabbi's son, says Pressman, he was rarely picked out for his behavior; he was simply considered "one of the pack."
Once a Hebrew school teacher scolded him during class. The rebuke didn't deter him, and after finishing Hebrew High, he went so far as to "steal" his diploma.
At the end of his senior year, Pressman had to miss the Hebrew High graduation ceremony for counselor training. Luckily, a friend who worked in the synagogue's office was able to swipe his diploma for him.
"I have a bootleg diploma," Pressman jokes.
Pressman sums up what many rabbis' kids - both those who became rabbis and the many who didn't - express about growing up in the Jewish spotlight. "I didn't try to be a star. For a lot of rabbis' kids, I think we just want to be normal."
Many rabbis' kids, or "RKs" (a common abbreviation among the group), say their parents never placed pressure on them to act a certain way in front of the community. Indeed, they say their childhoods were relatively normal. The assumption that something extraordinary occurred in their households comes from congregants and other outsiders, they say.
"Rabbis and those in their family know that they're just people," says Rabbi Micah Citrin,...