THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406280128
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: Medium
He's giving up a calling of eight years as rabbi of Temple Emanuel, a resort area synagogue, to work on a post-graduate degree in psychology - a field he hopes to enter full time as a clinician.
{REST} ``I hit my midlife crisis before midlife,'' he said jokingly of his not-so-sudden decision to switch from the religious to the secular.
He leaves Virginia Beach on July 7 to attend the Georgia School of Professional Psychology in pursuit of a doctoral degree. To help pay the bills, he'll teach junior high school history and Bible studies at Atlanta's Epstein Solomon Schecter School.
Life as leader of the Virginia Beach flock was not for him any longer, Abrams decided in the past year. Taking a new career path was. The decision to switch was a gradual one, as Abrams finally realized his true interest lay in delving into whys and wherefores of human behavior. It began, he says, in counseling sessions with members of his congregation and during visits to the sick and elderly.
In a sense, the change won't be all that drastic. ``I've always wanted to continue the two of them - the religious aspect and the psychological,'' he said. ``I always knew I wanted to get into a helping profession.''
A well-rounded man, Abrams, as leader of his synagogue, took part in efforts to diffuse racial tension after the 1989 Labor Day weekend rioting on the resort strip. He became a member of the City Council-appointed Human Rights Commission, the Fellowship Commission and joined the chaplain corps that patrolled resort strip streets with the police on summer nights. He also lifts weights, shoots hoops and has been in Little Theatre of Virginia Beach productions.
Abrams, who is single, can expound with equal authority on Old Testament scriptural origins or the reason the New York Knicks - his favorite NBA team - lacked the scoring guard or forward that could give them the edge over teams like the Houston Rockets, the eventual 1994 champion.
He came to Virginia Beach in 1986 as a 28-year-old rabbinical school graduate and was signed on to lead the conservative Temple Emanuel synagogue. He quickly established himself as a teacher and motivator - especially among the younger members, who related to his youthful vigor and a wryly realistic outlook on life that blends street savvy with erudition.
He grew up in Paterson, N.J., attended Montclair College for a year and transferred to Northeastern University in Boston where, in his junior year, he decided to become a rabbi. ``In college I fell in love with learning,'' he said. He attended the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York and later became a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, a body of conservative rabbis.
Recently, he's been busy packing for his move, ``but I'll be back for a wedding in October and I'll perform several bar mitzvahs here in the fall,'' he said.
He doesn't count out the possibility of returning to Virginia Beach to open a practice as a clinical psychologist. ``I understand there's there's a good market for that here,'' he said.
Could be that even rabbis get sand in their shoes.
by CNB