Clifton—Daughters of Miriam Center/The Gallen Institute announced the appointment of Rabbi Moshe Mirsky to the position of Director of Religious Services. Mirsky was chosen in the first search conducted in nearly four decades, after the retirement of long-time Center Rabbi Ira Kronenberg.
Rabbi Mirsky is very familiar with the Center, having served as the assistant chaplain to Rabbi Kronenberg from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1993 to the summer of 1995. While he was here, Rabbi Mirsky gave classes with lively discussions in the Miriam Apartments, led spirited services, provided musical and Jewish cultural programs on the dementia units, and established warm and nurturing relationships with the nursing home residents. In conjunction with Yeshiva University, he also revitalized the Brookdale Program, a rewarding intergenerational initiative that gave students the opportunity to spend Shabbat at the Center. In 1995, Rabbi Mirsky celebrated his aufruf (a Yiddish word), which is a communal acknowledgement of the groom’s upcoming wedding, at the Center with the residents, tenants, and clients, in anticipation of his marriage to his now wife, Karen.
Since leaving us in 1995, Rabbi Mirsky has had a distinguished career as a congregational rabbi and Jewish educator. He was the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of Schenectady, where he had served for the past 10 years. In addition, Mirsky taught at the Maimonides Hebrew Day School, was a kashruth supervisor for the Vaad Hakashruth of the Capital District, and served as the Chaplain of the Jewish War Veterans Post 106. Rabbi Mirsky was also the rabbinic liaison to the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York and was a past Vice-President of the Capital District Board of Rabbis.
In addition to his work in the New York capital district, Rabbi Mirsky is also a member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the Yeshiva University Rabbinic Alumni. He has taught Jewish studies at Yeshiva of Manhattan Beach and Yeshiva University High School for Girls. He was also the Assistant Rabbi at the Flatbush Park Jewish Center in Brooklyn for nine years and the Associate Principal of its Shachne Synagogue School.
Rabbi Mirsky has received many awards and accolades for his Jewish communal work, including the Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award for Communal Service from the Maimonides Hebrew Day School in Albany and Teacher of the Year Award from the Yeshiva of Manhattan.
Rabbi Mirsky earned his B.A. in psychology from Yeshiva University in New York City and his rabbinic ordination from RIETS at Yeshiva University.
Rabbi Mirsky looks forward to engaging with the Daughters of Miriam Center population by conducting meaningful and lively services; teaching Torah classes, Jewish current events, and history; and providing humor and music appropriate to the various residents within the Daughters of Miriam family. He will maintain the Center’s high standard of kashruth in the skilled-nursing facility and Miriam Apartments II. He will apply Jewish law and custom to life at Daughters of Miriam Center and will serve as a resource to the administration and staff on Jewish and spiritual matters. Rabbi Mirsky will give spiritual and emotional support and counseling to residents and family members of all faiths. He will also serve as a liaison to the broader Jewish community. Rabbi Mirsky will seek to strengthen existing relationships, and establish new connections with synagogues, schools, and individuals who will bring vitality and joy to the residents, even as they themselves are enriched. Respect, kindness, and appreciation of seniors will be the guiding principles of Rabbi Mirsky’s leadership. The Mirskys will live in Passaic.
