February 2009

Rabbi David Posner

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Born in 1947, David Posner is a product of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He lived there at a time when there was a Talmud Torah on every other block, with "shteblach" (small synagogues) on the alternate streets. He took permanent leave of Brooklyn in 1965, when with a portable typewriter in one hand and a suitcase full of books in the other, he left for a combined program with the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College. He graduated from UC in 1969, majored in political science, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1973, concentrating heavily during his eight years there on the field of comparative semitic linguistics, and writing a dissertation entitled "The Fundamentals of Standard Arabic Structured for the Hebraist." Upon ordination, he received the Ralph Lazarus Prize for the student finishing first in his class academically.

Having been the recipient of the Temple Emanu-El Scholarship from 1965-1973, Rabbi Posner was asked to come to Emanu-El immediately upon ordination. In 1984, he began doctoral studies in the field of piano pedagogy at Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed his doctorate in 1988. Several years ago, he appeared in five of the largest nursing homes in New York, playing a full-length recital of music exclusively by Brahms.

His wife, Sylvia, has been the Assistant to the President of Hebrew Union College here in New York, for the same 36 years that David has served Temple Emanu-El. In this capacity, she is a counselor to rabbis and laity alike. They have three children, all of them lawyers: Rachel,general counsel and senior managing director of Georgeson; Raphael, associate general counsel of Matlins-Patterson, and daughter-in-law Courtney, an associate at the firm of Dewey Ballantine. Rachel is a pianist, and Raphael is a cellist.