30 Jun Extensive Q&A With the New Executive Vice President of the OU: Rabbi Moshe Hauer
FAST FACTS:
Name: Rabbi Moshe Hauer Family: Wife: Mindi, children who reside in Baltimore, New York,
New Jersey and Jerusalem
Lives in: Baltimore, MD
Grew up in: Montreal, Canada Education:
High school: Yeshiva Gedola Of Montreal Yeshiva: Ner Yisroel
Received a Masters in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University Smicha from: Ner Yisroel Current Rabbi in: Rabbi Emeritus of Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion
Years as Rabbi of Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion in Baltimore: 26 years
New Title: Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the senior rabbi of Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation in Baltimore, will become the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s oldest and largest umbrella organization for the North American Orthodox Jewish community, following the retirement of Allen Fagin this summer. This past week, Ari Hirsch from the Jewish Vues had the opportunity to do a Q & A with Rabbi Hauer.
How excited are you about becoming the new Executive Vice President of the OU?
I look forward to this new challenge in my professional career. I’ve been blessed to have been the senior Rav in a Baltimore shul for 26 years. During that time, as a group, we grew our shul into a significant center of community, a home for its families and singles, and a place of inspired Tefillah, Chessed and Torah learning that impacted every corner of our community. Having seen the potential impact of a shul on its members and community, it is a privilege to be able to work through the OU with hundreds of outstanding Rabbanim doing the same for their shuls and communities across North America.
What is the job of the Executive Vice President of the OU? What are you involved with?
The responsibility the position holds is to help formulate the mission and direction guiding the OU’s activities in support of Jewish communities throughout North America and around the world.
This is an ongoing responsibility, that requires adapting to changing realities. For instance, we have a tremendous challenge and opportunity at this point in time as we work to help our communities navigate the new challenges we face following the shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As our shuls and yeshivas re-open, our communities will face new challenges and the OU should be at the forefront of helping in what will be a significant effort.
What would you like to accomplish over the first year in your new position?
Our goal is to strengthen our connection with rabbis and community leaders around the country and to hear their communities’ most pressing issues, so that the OU can partner with them to assist in solving those issues. Our hope is that we can further partner with communities, both big and small.
We need to be sure that while we focus on the many of the immediate challenges, that we are also looking farther ahead and planning for our community’s needs well into the future.
I believe that the majority of the administration is based out of New York, is the fact that you live in Baltimore going to be difficult?
Our work isn’t confined by the physical boundaries of the office, which is something that has been highlighted these last few months as we worked remotely while providing a strong level of support and service to the community as we went through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, we are all looking forward to being physically together. I plan to be in the OU headquarters in Manhattan regularly, working side by side with the rest of our incredible team.
The OU is a global organization and many of our staff and teams work in offices around the world, and we hope to be able to visit them as well as our communities in those places.
What would you say are your greatest accomplishments as Rabbi of the Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion in Baltimore?
Being in the position for 26 years, I had the opportunity to work with a number of individuals and
families to create a community of caring, focusing on our broader communal responsibility and one of inspired commitment to Torah and Jewish life.
How would you define a good leader?
A good Jewish leader is one committed to serving the community materially, spiritually and in a unifying manner. They should always be learning and adjusting to current and anticipated needs of those they represent directly, and of our community as a whole.
Is there something that you would like to tell Jewish Vues readers that we did not discuss?
We are living at an important juncture in the history of the Jewish community and the world. It is a time for much prayer and communal effort to see that each member and element of our community returns to the new normal, strengthened by the unusual challenges of the past few months.