After saying goodbye to Rabbi David Meyer last summer after his three decades of service, Temple Emanu-El is welcoming a new spiritual leader, Marblehead’s first female rabbi, Jenn Mangold.
“I just clicked so well with the people,” Mangold told the Current. “From my Zoom interview to my visit, I felt this chemistry with them. I truly wanted to be their rabbi and share the joyful events of life and the hard times as well.”
Mangold, who has a 4-year-old and 3-year-old twins, is coming from St. Petersburg, Florida, where she has been rabbi for about two years. Before that, she served as assistant rabbi in Milwaukee. She was ordained in 2018.
Growing up outside of New York City, Mangold didn’t always want to be a rabbi, and was getting her master’s in education at Columbia.
“I still want to be a teacher, but I want to be a teacher of Torah, a teacher of Judaism,” she said.
Karen Whitman, who led Emanu-El’s search for a new rabbi, said Mangold was an easy choice.
“She impressed us the moment we connected,” Whitman remembered. “She is engaging, warm, passionate about Judaism and pastoral care as well as a natural leader and educator. Her enthusiasm and dedication makes her the perfect fit to lead Temple Emanu-El to new heights.”
Mangold is looking forward to making deep connections in Marblehead.
“Before me, Rabbi Meyer had been in Marblehead for 30 years,” she said. “I’m really excited to stand on his shoulders, meet the community and form those relationships. I’m coming in new. I want to build a foundation.”
A key passion of hers is pastoral care. She worked overnights with patients and families in a hospital.
“If someone died at three in the morning, I would be with the family,” she said. “It really inspired me to be with people during those raw moments and be a calming presence, to bring a spiritual aspect at those times. It’s my sacred honor to be there with them during the best times and the mostful painful times.”
Mangold recognizes that she is coming to Marblehead at a tumultuous time for Jewish people around the world, given the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and war in Gaza.
“I want to be a calming presence in people’s lives, especially with everything going on in the world,” she said. “We need a lot of healing. We need a sacred space to have conversations about what’s going on and the future for the Jewish people. I want to provide sanctuary for people to heal, to ask questions and grow.”
Mangold’s husband is a teacher and will be looking for a job in education here on the North Shore.
“This is a good time for us to put down roots,” she said. “We want to raise our family here. We just really fell in love with the area.”
Mangold and her family will be moving here in June and starting work in July.
