Rabbi David to retire
Rabbi Sion David said he’ll miss teaching the most as he retires from his position of rabbi at Temple Israel in Uniontown where he has been the congregation’s spiritual leader for 27 years. “Teaching is one of the primary roles of a rabbi,’ Rabbi David explained. “I teach the children in the Hebrew school, especially the students who are preparing for their bar and bat mitzvah. It’s nice to see kids who have no knowledge of Hebrew grow and mature.’
In fact, Rabbi David will officiate at a bar mitzvah Saturday morning as he leads worship for the last time as rabbi of Temple Israel. For this ceremony, the congregation will meet at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Uniontown rather than the Uniontown Jewish Community Center, where they moved their place of worship in 1995.
Although he has plans to travel, Rabbi David and his wife, Helaine, will remain living in Uniontown after his official retirement date of June 30. The congregation of Temple Israel has given Rabbi David the title rabbi emeritus so he will remain available to assist the congregation with life cycle services.
The congregation will also honor Rabbi David as he prepares to retire with a dinner on Wednesday, June 18, at Generations restaurant in Uniontown. He will also install new officers for the congregation at that time.
Speakers will include Art Snyder, who will speak about the early years; Scott Pollock, current president, who will talk about the present; and Dr. Barbara Wilhelm, president-elect, who will talk about the future. Rabbi David will also address the congregation.
Meanwhile, Rabbi David explained, the congregation is hoping to acquire a student rabbi from a seminary in either New York, Cincinnati or Los Angeles who will travel to Temple Israel on weekends for services. Rabbi David was a student rabbi himself at one time.
A native of Bombay (now Mumbai), India, Rabbi David earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at St. Xavier’s College at the University of Bombay in 1960. He then traveled to the United States, where he attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and earned a bachelor’s degree in Hebrew letters in 1963 and a master’s degree in Hebrew letters in 1966, the same year he was ordained.
Cincinnati is also where Rabbi David met his wife, a native of Louisville, Ky., who was attending the University of Cincinnati. The couple married in 1962. Mrs. David has a master’s degree in education and taught in Cincinnati. She operated an antique business in Uniontown and worked in financial services before retiring.
The Davids have two children, who were both born in Paisley, Scotland, where Rabbi David accepted a position at Glasgow New Synagogue after his ordination.
Their daughter is Lisa Kaye, a Penn State University graduate who is married to Mark Chertok. The couple has a son named Adam David and they live in Columbia, Md.
The Davids’ son is Braham, who was recently ordained a rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is undergoing final interviews and hopes to find a position on the East Coast.
Both of the Davids’ children are graduates of Uniontown Area Senior High School.
The Davids were in Scotland for three years. They had originally gone to Bombay but the synagogue couldn’t afford to maintain a rabbi. So after working in Scotland, the Davids decided to return to the United States.
Rabbi David accepted a position in nearby Johnstown, where he stayed from 1970 to 1976.
Active in the community, Rabbi David was vice president of the clergy association and did radio programs and television on WJAC as well as work with civic organizations.
But as the Jewish community in Johnstown grew smaller, the Reformed and Conservative synagogues decided to merge in 1976 and start fresh with a new rabbi.
That’s when Rabbi David came to Temple Israel in Uniontown, succeeding Rabbi William Cohen.
Temple Israel was located at 119 E. Fayette St., where it was built in 1907.
The congregation remained there until 1995, when it moved into the Uniontown Jewish Community Center on Main Street.
The move was made necessary as the congregation grew smaller. The congregation included 120 to 130 members when Rabbi David arrived in Uniontown.
As he retires, he estimated the congregation is between 25 and 30 members.
Uniontown has two congregations: Temple Israel, which is reformed, and Tree of Life, which is Conservative.
They are the only two congregations left in Fayette County, which Rabbi David earlier reported at one time had synagogues in Connellsville, Brownsville and Masontown.
After coming to Uniontown, Rabbi David also became active in the community and took on a number of positions.
From 1979 to 1989, he was administrator of the Fayette County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Program in Uniontown, where he was responsible for administration, planning, evaluating and monitoring of all mental health and mental retardation services for the county.
He has also served as chaplain for a number of institutions. Rabbi David worked at the Western Center in Canonsburg from 1984-88 and Somerset State Hospital from 1992-96.
He has worked as chaplain of the State Correctional Institute Somerset since 1993 and the State Correctional Institute Laurel Highlands in Somerset County since 1996. He also served as chaplain of the State Correctional Institute in Waynesburg from 1996-99.
From 1994 to 1996, Rabbi David was executive director of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers of Fayette Inc., which offers support to the elderly and handicapped through volunteers.
Rabbi David helped establish the program while he was president of the Uniontown Area Clergy Association, expanding on a successful program first developed by Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Uniontown.
He continues to serve as a reviewer for Faith in Action grants funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
He served as director of West Virginia University Hillel in Morgantown in 1995-96, responsible for directing the activities of Jewish students on campus to include counseling, teaching and religious ser ices.
He also worked as spiritual counselor for Staffbuilders, Albert Gallatin Home Care and Hospice in Uniontown from 1997 to 2000.
In his retirement, David said he expects to spend more time at the YMCA and continues to enjoy theater and jazz.
The Davids regularly attend jazz concerts at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh and last year attended the jazz festival at The Hague in Holland.
Reflecting on his years in Uniontown, Rabbi David, who will continue as chaplain at two prisons in Somerset County, said, “I think this was a unique rabbinical experience since the congregation was relatively small, I was able to do other things: to work in the mental health/mental retardation system for almost 12 years, also to be involved in Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers and hospice. I had a tremendous opportunity to make a difference in the community.’
He added, “I think I liked the variety of things you do. It’s not a 9 to 5 job. People think you conduct services but you also counsel, visit hospitals, nursing homes, doing community outreach and I did media work in Johnstown.’
Rabbi David continues to enjoy the place he has called home for nearly three decades.
He said, “I think Fayette County is a great place to live and bring up children. …A lot of people don’t realize what we have right here.’