A dean of Bridgeport clergy takes a step back
Spiritual leader to expand his long-standing adjunct teaching role
BRIDGEPORT — There is a rabbinic quote that goes: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
Rabbi James Prosnit, the longtime spiritual leader at B’nai Israel, is taking that one to heart.
After 29 years, Prosnit, 69, is stepping down as senior rabbi of the 700-member congregation established in the city 160 years ago, but will remain on as a B’nai Israel rabbi emeritus and member.
“I love what I have done here, but I am ready,” Prosnit said, in an office lined with books.
The task of packing them up has not begun, although he has promised first dibs to Associate Rabbi Evan Schultz, who will take over as senior rabbi of the congregation on July 1.
To honor Prosnit, a tribute Shabbat event will take place on May 31, with many area clergy participating. On June 1 there will be a gala fundraiser dinner in his honor.
“I love what I have done here, but I am ready.” Rabbi James Prosnit
When he steps down as senior rabbi, Prosnit plans to expand his long-standing adjunct teaching role at Fairfield University and become a part-time chaplain for Jewish students on the Jesuit campus.
“The aim is to recognize the importance of diversity at the university,” he said.
There are not many Jewish students at the largely Catholic School, but interfaith involvement has been a hallmark of Prosnit’s career.
Universal responsibility
Prosnit said being engaged with the community comes with the job of being rabbi.
“Our strength is a collective strength,” Prosnit said. “When the community in which Jews have been living is secure and stable and growing, the Jewish community is secure and stable and growing. It is only to our own benefit and sense of responsibility to add to a broader whole.”
Over the years, in addition to contributing to a B’nai Israel community that he calls the centerpiece of a lot of people’s lives, Prosnit has served as co-chair of Bridgeport Prospers, a leadership team organized by the United Way. He was president of Connecticut Against Gun Violence and a chair of Operation Hope, a homeless shelter and social service agency in Fairfield.
He counts among his successes his work to help organize Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut (CONECT), a group of more than 25 churches, synagogues, mosques and Sikh Temples from Norwalk to New Haven.
The group tries to work on social justice issues from the root level.
“There are systems in our society that are problematic,” Prosnit said. “What can we do to make systems more responsive.”
Bishop William Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport said Prosnit’s commitment to social justice have helped to unite the community. He considers Prosnit an interfaith leader, and a friend.
In particular, Lori said, he was grateful for Prosnit’s participation in a 2016 prayer service for peace held at St. Augustine Cathedral in response to a wave of shootings, hate crimes and increased racial tensions across the country.
“Without justice there can be no authentic spirituality,” Lori recalls Prosnit as saying. “He the urged everyone to work for justice and believe in the transformative power of mercy.”
Changing times
George Markley, who has belonged to B’nai Israel since 1974, was on the search committee that selected Prosnit in 1990.
“He was warm and engaging. He was humble. He had a wonderful sense of humor,” Markley recalls. “The committee was totally comfortable with him and he has served congregation remarkably well.”
It was at a welcome reception in Markley’s kitchen that Prosnit and the Rev. David Spollett, senior pastor at First Church Congregational in Fairfield, first met.
Both had an affinity for interfaith endeavors, and they hit it off right away.
“Jim is wonderfully warm, a kind, compassionate person who has a passion for justice and building a better society,” Spollett said.
He called Prosnit a leader who listens.
“He really is the dean of clergy in the greater Bridgeport area,” Spollett said.
Markley agreed, and said being “dean” was more than a matter of longevity.
“Clergy like Prosnit and Spollett command tremendous respect, because not only are they wise, but also very community oriented,” Markley said. “They don’t come to their positions with agendas.”
Prosnit leaves a congregation a tad leaner than the one he took over in 1990, but B’nai Israel remains the largest synagogue in the region.
Founded in 1859, B’nai Israel was first downtown, moved to lower Park Avenue in 1910, and now is at 2710 Park Avenue.
Prosnit said the synagogue maintains a strong commitment to the city, even as a lion’s share of its congregants have moved to the suburbs. Most members now live in Fairfield, Easton, Trumbull, Stratford, Shelton and Monroe.
Some of what happens in the city breaks his heart.
“Some of our (congregant’s) kids go to some of the best public schools in the country, a couple miles away. Others go to most challenged (schools),” Prosnit said.
Many of his congregants belong to the Bridgeport Volunteer Association, an organization likely to fold next year because the district can’t afford to pay the salaries of the association’s twomember staff.
Originally from Westchester, Prosnit was ordained from Hebrew Union College in 1981 and served as associate rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City and at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto before coming to Bridgeport.
Over 29 years, he has delivered well over 1,100 sermons. Not until two years ago did he feel the need to give a sermon on antisemitism.
Although he continues to believe no Jewish community is as secure as the American Jewish community, Prosnit now says he sees a “yellow blinking light” that is sobering.
“Think about Pittsburg and Charlottesville and Poway,” he said of recent attacks. “What was at one point on the fringes of American society have become more emboldened. Antisemitism on the fringes has now come out of the shadows.”
The relationship of people of many faiths to organized religious has also changed. It once was almost a given that people would join a synagogue once they started a family. Not anymore. Fewer people also feel the need to be part of a group when it comes to finding a religious path.
To make sure the congregation remains relevant, Prosnit has made sermons shorter and more conversational.
“We’ve navigated transitions, transformed a building, shaped a deeply caring community and created new opportunities for spirituality and personal growth,” he wrote in a message to his congregation.
In addition to elevating Schultz to senior rabbi, the congregation has hired a new assistant rabbi, Sarah Marion, from Baltimore, who starts in July.
Prosnit said the plan is to step in to the background in much the way he said Rabbi Emeritus Arnold Sher did when Prosnit came on board. Prosnit’s wife, Wendy Bloch, works as an administrator at the Kennedy Center in Bridgeport. They have three sons, two of whom are rabbis, and four grandchildren.
Many say Schultz and Prosnit are cut from the same cloth.
Schultz called Prosnit a key mentor.
“He really has always treated me as a partner,” Schultz said, while at the same time giving him space to grow.
As senior rabbi, Schultz said, he will honor things that make B'nai Israel special, but will also deepen his work with youth and young adults in the congregation.
“I want to build on the healthy, dynamic synagogue that Rabbi Prosnit has built,” Schultz said.