Rabbi Ken Chasen: We Can Do This - You Are Not Alone - We’re Going To Get Through This Together

Rabbi Ken Chasen

As I’m writing this, the worst killing of jews on U.S. soil just occurred just a few days ago as a crazed gunman stormed the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 jews worshiping on a Saturday morning, injuring many more. Rabbi Chasen, Senior Rabbi at Leo Baeck Temple, led a vigil in Los Angeles along with leaders of many many faiths and community leaders as he has on other occasions. So the first question I asked him was whether at times like these (especially at times like these) if it sucks being a rabbi, or if he regrets what he does for a living.

He does not.

Rabbi Chasen, even now, is grateful he is a Rabbi. It is an “honor to do, even though it is hard to do.” He gets to look back on his life at the end and see how he has lived his life, and he smiles and sees it will be a “pretty good life.” That’s for sure. 

A brief disclaimer – this is my rabbi. I love my rabbi and my temple. If you had told me I’d ever write a sentence like that when I was younger I’d think you were on drugs, but it’s true. I grew up a “twice-a-year-jew” and really didn’t know much except I felt Jewish and believed in nature.

Once I had kids, I wanted to give them some foundation of sorts, and when I joined Leo Baeck Temple at the advice of a friend who said I would love it there (fat chance, I really thought, but I was too nice to say that), my friend was right. My temple is true community. People show up for each other and know one another. I learned it’s okay that I don’t know all the rituals and prayers, but I have learned soooo much. I even got bat mizvah’d as an adult, and was the youngest in the class (I think.)

I have watched Rabbi Chasen navigate some of the most difficult tragedies as well as some petty personality conflicts all with grace and sensitivity to everyone.

How does he do it? How does he always find the right words? He didn’t always want to be a rabbi. He didn’t know what he wanted to do when he was younger.  He was writing songs by the age of 14 and serious about music in college. A self-taught musician he was leading bands in high school and in college. Playing many instruments (keyboards, drums, bass and guitar) and leading his band, he recorded some songs in Nashville with money he saved being a “fake cantor” (yep – his buddy was studying to be a rabbi and couldn’t sing so asked Ken to fake being a cantor. Ken did this his entire college career!)  He graduated college a 4.0 stellar student not knowing what he wanted to do. At this point, torn between rabbinical school (because his friend who seemed so normal was doing it) or music, (he LOVED the creativity and whole experience of music) was a difficult choice.

Of note: Ken Chasen became a fake cantor from his friend in summer camp. Ken was 17 about to enter college, his friend was 23 – a cool older kid Ken looked up to who was studying to be a rabbi. When he asked Ken to help him with the singing, Ken was thrilled -- he gets to be with this friend, make money, and sing in front of others. The friend hands Ken a manila folder full of the music and picks him up on the way to Richmond, Indiana. Ken still laughs telling this story and gets a kick out of the fact he made $50 each time he got to do this work. When he was on the bema/stage singing one of the songs (Avinu Malkenu), towards the end of the song as he finished the high note, Ken felt chills and had a deep memorable spiritual moment. He’d never had anything like it. (Well that’s a sure sign of a higher power at work!)

I asked him if he told anyone (I never would have at 17-years old – not back then). He said he told his parents who proudly attended all the time when he was a fake cantor (I just love that – “fake cantor” – it’s probably the only non-rule abiding thing he’s ever done!) Ken Chasen came to Los Angeles and met with the then Assistant Dean at Hebrew Union College (HUC) and honestly told him his dilemma. This wise Dean didn’t try to sell Ken on rabbinical school. This great guy clearly saw another fabulous leader in the making. He told Ken to go into the world and do his music. Even if he tries for two years, fails and comes back to HUC, it will make him that much better and more empathetic a rabbi. The dean saw what an overachiever (my paraphrasing) Ken clearly was (come on – 4.0 all the way through college), writing songs, leading bands, working as a cantor, etc etc. He told Ken he could come back. Ken had no idea that was an option! 

So Kenny Chasen moved to the slums of Van Nuys, CA and lived in poverty for a year, barely able to pay rent or eat before dumb luck and a bit of hubris had him arrive and eventually get a cush job in the movie studios – he even had the ultimate prize - a Warner Bros parking spot!

Ken worked on a lot of television shows for a number of years and got to write his own music. He played golf and worked his way up the union. He was dating his now wife Allison and all seemed good, yet something was clearly missing (I know that feeling.) He was making a lot of money – had a new car and a new apartment. But he began to wonder, “Is this it?” (Sounds familiar.)

He did not want to choose rabbinal as a fall-back. He always kept up his singing during the high holy days at random little synagogues that could only afford someone during those times, not full-time. At this point, Ken Chasen again applied to HUC.

Not only did he get into HUC, he received a prestigious Fellowship to boot.

So that is how my rabbi became a Rabbi.

And he loves it. No two days are alike. Ever. He wears sooo many hats – he creates religious community for others, he is a staff supervisor, he’s in charge of a budget of millions for a non-profit, he pastors people, he still gets to create music and to sing, and so so so much more.

But it is when Rabbi Chasen talks about community that he really comes even more alive. You can tell it’s his life’s work. He says that community exists because the world is getting faster and lonelier all the time. That we all need “genuine human encounters.” That we need to really “relate to people on a level that matters.”

And when that really awful tragedy occurs, what then? “Then you are not alone – we’ve got you. You are never going to heal. You are going to learn how to walk around with the broken part.” And we will walk with you. You do not have to walk alone. Ever. That’s what community is.

Ken Chasen has such a way with people and intuitively knows the right thing to say. It’s like when he spoke at a downtown rally last summer for the second Women’s March. He could have gone for the cheap applause by saying anti-Trump sentiment, but “that’s fleeting and not what people need to hear,” says Ken. His message, his purpose is to remind us that, “We can do this. You’re not alone. We’re going to get through this together.”

He feels his purpose is to help people feel connected in love to humanity more than they ever imagined. I asked him HOW? Because that sounds wonderful. How to help people feel connected? Especially now.

He says we must “give away some piece of self-pursuit in order to be a part of something larger then ourselves.” (Get rid of the selfish, self-seeking tendencies that turn us inward - my interpretation!) Ken then spoke of Martin Buber and the question of “how do we encounter God?” Buber, says Rabbi Chasen, answers that, “all real faith exists through meeting with others.” So we can’t sit inside and isolate. We must mingle (cringy for some, I know).

But it’s super simple really. We have to get outside and really see each other, not just breeze by. He just means we get to notice the checkout person at the market, and when we do this person isn’t an “it” anymore. She/he matters, you matter, we all matter and we get to have a relationship with each other.

The same with the driver next to us. It isn’t a car, an “it.” There’s a person inside we can wish well for the day ahead (or whatever time of day it is), who has an entire story and life and dreams and failures and future and family and daily routines, just like us. Ken then went on to talk about the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas who describes the “face of another.” Levinas writes beautifully of all of this - that it is in the face of a stranger - when we actually look at a homeless person on a corner, he has a face - he exists, and is no longer faceless. It’s now a person.

This is actually why I keep granola bars in my car, cases of them, for the homeless. When we make eye contact, they do exist. I do not want to give homeless money in case they’ll buy liquor. I sometimes ask if they are able to chew the bar, (no disrespect intended but dental hygiene’s not high on homeless activities), so I’ve had a bit of interaction and because I’ve seen them, interacted and done the best I can in the moment, this is no longer a stranger, a faceless person.

I’m not so great - I learned the case of granola bars in the car thing from someone else and loved the idea and have been doing it ever since. Steal the idea from me! Such an easy feel-good moment. And it links us with humanity. What an easy way to get instant hope. And it links right back to Ken Chasen and community and connection.

Thanks Rabbi Ken Chasen. You definitely embody hope for others.

Kenneth Chasen is Senior Rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Chasen is an outspoken commentator and author on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to Jewish life, with a special emphasis on social justice in the United States and in Israel.  In addition to his activism in support of immigrant rights, affordable housing and environmental sustainability, he has assumed a prominent role in promoting Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, having met with such dignitaries as past Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and former Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.  He created and led a groundbreaking rabbinic mission to Jerusalem and Ramallah in 2011; the group met with key officials and ministers in the Netanyahu administration and the Palestinian National Authority, as well as influential business leaders on both sides of the Green Line.

Rabbi Chasen’s writings have appeared in a wide variety of national and international publications, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Variety, Reform Judaism and The Jewish Journal, among many others.  Rabbi Chasen is also the co-author of two books which guide Jewish families in the creation of meaningful Jewish rituals in the home.  In addition, he serves on the adjunct faculty of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, and he is a nationally recognized composer whose original liturgical and educational works are regularly heard in synagogues, religious schools, Jewish camps and sanctuaries across North America and in Israel.

Rabbi Chasen is married to Allison Lee, Chief Development Officer of Times Up.  Together, they share the joys and challenges of raising three children, Micah, Benjamin, and Eliana.