B’ NEI MITZVAH CLASS OF 2013 FOR 13 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
RABBI JULIUS RABINOWITZ
Since Ordination, I have been honored to serve as the pulpit rabbi of Beth Jacob, a Conservative synagogue in Norwich, Connecticut. I have also been privileged to collaborate across the wider community, including serving as president of both the Norwich Area Interfaith Clergy Association and the Eastern Connecticut Rabbinical Association.
These years have brought my life full circle. I grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Lazar and Cesia Rabinowitz— Holocaust survivors who created a warm, deeply Jewish home shaped by Yeshiva education and baseball. After high school, I entered a multi decade descent into my own“ forty nine gates of impurity,” during which I earned a B. A. in History, a Juris Doctor, and a Master of Laws, and spent nearly forty years practicing intellectual property law, participating in precedent setting cases.
My return to Judaism came through my wife, Ellen Shapiro, my partner of almost forty years, who rekindled the spark within my neshamah and has helped keep it alive ever since. And there is Alex, my son, whose presence— along with our succession of German Shepherds— has kept me young at heart. Our twice yearly travels in Asia, with daughter in law Yan and grandchildren Dion and Lisl, have only deepened my sense of blessing.
To paraphrase one of my most inspiring teachers: each morning I wake grateful and thrilled for the tests the Holy One sets before me, and for the strength to meet them in service to my community and beyond.
AJR 2026 33