When Rabbi Shimmy Steinmetz was in college he initially pursued a career in law. “I took my LSAT,” he recalled, “when I started dating my wife, Eliana, she thought she was going to marry a lawyer.”

That all changed after it became clear he was more excited and skilled in giving a shiur and leading a community than studying constitutional law. “There was not necessarily one moment,” he said last week. “It was kind of gradual.”

On Sunday, Rabbi Steinmetz, 30, will be publicly welcomed as the new rabbi of Congregation Adath Israel in Hillside. The “installation” ceremony will include light refreshments and inspiring addresses from rabbinic leaders in the area.

For Rabbi Steinmetz, it’s the culmination of years of intense Torah study and a nurtured upbringing surrounded by supportive family and rabbinic role models in Woodmere and Israel.

In his 20s, he was deeply inspired by Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz during a shiva visit to his home. His father had lost his mother and was sitting shiva together with his three brothers. Rabbi Pelcovitz, the longtime rabbi of Far Rockaway’s Congregation Knesseth Israel (The White Shul) was an elderly man at the time. He made a little small talk during the approximately 20-minute visit.

But as he got up to leave, he recited a pasuk to his father and three brothers. The men — who were normally reserved during the time of mourning — all began to cry, Rabbi Steinmetz recalled. Although he wasn’t able to hear the pasuk, this moment has been cemented in his memory.

“It was the first time in the entire shiva that I saw them all start crying at the same time,” Rabbi Steinmetz remembered. “And I think at that point, I realized the impact that someone in the pulpit is able to have on their congregants and on the kehila — and I think that also had a pretty profound impact on me.”

It wasn’t just local leadership that put Rabbi Steinmetz on the road to Hillside. His father, Joel, has long given the Daf Yomi shiur and at least one other shiur each week at the Young Israel of Woodmere.

“He’s not a rabbi but I grew up with a father that learned a lot,” Rabbi Steinmetz said.

His pathway to the pulpit began to take shape during his two years after high school at Yeshivat HaKotel. I got a little more into learning,” he recalled. “When I came back, I was giving shiurim in my community a lot.”

He’s also close with two roshei yeshiva at YU: Rabbi Mayer Twersky and Rabbi Hershel Schachter.

Like many, he landed his first job with a little help from family. His older brother, David, and sister-in-law, Rose, were attending Einstein Medical School and Rabbi Steinmetz and his wife visited them a few times for Shabbos.“It was a really nice community,” he recalled.

So when the shul associated with the medical school was looking for a rabbi his brother, and another friend, flagged the opening. At the time, Rabbi Steinmetz was attending Yeshiva University’s Kollel Elyon which required all participants to also serve as rabbinic interns. It was familiar to me so I applied,” he remembered.

He landed the job and spent the next three years giving guidance and molding classes for soon-to-be doctors.

“My whole family loved being there,” he said. “The community is incredibly warm and kind.”

The experience was a perfect start for a young rabbi as he fielded hundreds of questions each year on topics ranging from niddah to Shabbos to kashrus to medicine, he said.

“Most of the community is young couples,” he said. “I found the training was very helpful.”

When he heard about the job in Hillside, he was attracted to the position after experiencing the community’s “warmth and unbelievable welcoming” during his Shabbos interview. Still, when he applied, one close family member was a little skeptical.

“My mom said, ‘Hillside? How far is that?’” said Rabbi Steinmetz, who acknowledged he didn’t originally know a lot about the community.

He and his wife Eliana spent the next few weeks “extolling the virtues” of Hillside after they had a great experience during the tryout Shabbos.

Additionally, Hillside is a half hour train ride from midtown Manhattan and a 45- minute drive to Brooklyn without traffic. Hillside is also about an hour from Lakewood and Monsey, making it one of the most central Jewish communities on the east coast.

In 2017, Rabbi Steinmetz married Eliana, who works as a homecare nurse.

“She lived a few blocks away,” he said. “I didn’t know her growing up but our families are friends.”

The two have three children: Hadassah (5), Moshe Boruch (3) and Yerachmiel (8 months).

As for his parents, Rabbi Steinmetz’s mother works in a medical office and his father works in financial technology. But he’s not the first rabbi in his immediate family.

“My grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi at a Conservative shul in Florida for a few years,” he said. “But he hasn’t been practicing in 65 years.

“I’m very close with my grandfather,” he said. “He called me before my first Shabbos in Hillside to give me some advice on my drasha.”

As for his vision for his new congregation, Rabbi Steinmetz said he wants to emulate good parts of multiple different shuls he has come across.

“I want to make sure the shul runs as efficiently as the good shuls run while also having the feeling of a shtiebel,” he said. “that feeling of warmth. Where people come and are inspired by the tefillah and where people know and care for each other.”

“Where people want to do for each other because they really care,” he added.

Interested in joining Hillside for a Shabbos? You can email [email protected] or visit the shul’s website:
adathisraelshul.org.

Reuven Blau is a senior reporter at THE CITY online local news nonprofit. He’s also a co-author of “Rikers: An Oral History” and resides in Hillside with his wife and two children. His email is rblau77@gmail.