Remembering Paul Reichenbach, who helped shape generations of young Reform Jews

Leave it to Paul Reichenbach to leave this world on the morning of the second day of Rosh Hashanah — with its Torah portion telling Abraham that it would be impossible to count his descendants, as impossible as counting the stars and the grains of sand.

So, too, with Paul, who spent over 40 years helping to create Reform camp programs (what some believe to be the crown jewel of the movement), helping countless youngsters embrace their Jewish identities and recruiting and managing staff who themselves would go on to teach and transform.

Reichenbach, who died Sept. 13 at the age of 74 after a brief battle with ALS, was legendary in the Reform movement. Starting in 1975, he served on the staff of the youth programs of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly Union of American Hebrew Congregations), serving as the co-director of the URJ/UAHC Youth Division. At the time of his retirement in 2019, he had been one of its longest serving professionals.

His resume was as large as his appetite — not only for food, but for experiences and life. He had been the co-director of the URJ Kutz Camp-Institute in Warwick, New York, the Reform movement’s teen leadership camp. (It closed in 2019.) He oversaw the URJ’s network of 18 North American camps. For years, he was the voice of the Reform movement, quite literally: He was the deep-voiced announcer at Reform movement biennials.

So, how many young people (and by extension, their families) did Paul influence? According to the URJ website, its youth programs — summer camps, Israel programs, and NFTY: The Reform Youth Movement — engage more than 20,000 youth, teens and young adults each year.

That would be hundreds of thousands of distinct youth experiences over the course of one man’s professional life.

And then consider that many of those young people would go on and have their own children and grandchildren, who might have similar experiences. Imagine the number of those young people who became Jewish professionals — rabbis, cantors, educators, camp directors, Hillel directors, federation personnel, Jewish community center workers. 

And the gift of that mentorship did not end with the Reform movement. It embraced the entire Jewish world. Those whom he taught, taught others, creating a ripple effect — what we might call the immortality of influence.

We also know that programs that Paul helped create, design and nurture actually work.

Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe of Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies conducted the 2000 field study behind “How Goodly Are Thy Tents: Summer Camps as Jewish Socializing Experiences.” They spent time at 20 Jewish residential camps across the country, observing daily life, meals and Sabbath rituals.

They confirmed what we always sensed: Camp’s immersive, round-the-clock environment lets Jewish education and identity-formation happen informally and experientially — through communal living, shared ritual, music and peer culture — in a way that classroom-based supplementary schooling cannot. That was the impetus behind the creation of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, which supports and funds such camping programs. 

But the authors of that study also knew that such successes depend heavily on the Jewish commitment of camp operators, directors and staff. All of whom were directly under Paul’s management and influence.

And then there were the kids who came to love Israel through the Reform movement’s Israel programs, which Paul also directed. Like the sands on the shores of the sea and the stars in the heavens, I am trying to imagine how many kids were involved in those Israel trips during Paul’s tenure.

I once called Paul a Zionist hero — up there with Ben Gurion and Golda. He laughed it off, but I was utterly serious.

In “Tender Is the Night,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: “Well, you never knew exactly how much space you occupied in people’s lives.” That is one huge lesson from the life of Paul J. Reichenbach, and it is a lesson that all Jewish professionals need to learn during these Days of Awe.

I do not think that Paul ever knew exactly how much space he occupied in so many people’s lives — including and especially the life of the Reform movement, and how deep his work was, and how extensive its influence had been.

We never really know the ultimate scope of our vision and our reach. Rabbis, cantors, teachers, educators, camp directors — and yes, pastors, priests, imams, all religious professionals: We do not always see the rewards of our labors in the moment, or even in our lifetimes, before the people we engage go out into the world.

It is a much longer arc than that. It is an arc that lasts not just a lifetime, but beyond. It can reach into several lifetimes.

It was the custom to write, at the end of a Hebrew book, tam v’nishlam — it is over, and it is complete.

Paul Reichenbach’s book of life might be over, but it is far from complete.