Clergy

Temple Israel is proud to have two amazing individuals in our rabbi and cantor.  See their biographies below and please take a few moments to read this month's messages from the Rabbi and Cantor.

 ^Biographies

Rabbi Allen Bennett was born in Akron, Ohio. He attended Western Reserve University (later to be called Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he earned a B.A. with honors in Psychology in 1968. He attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform Jewish seminary) in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in 1972 and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters as well as rabbinical ordination in 1974.

Upon ordination Rabbi Bennett moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where he began a one-year residency program in Clinical Pastoral Education, leading to his certification as a hospital chaplain. He served two more years there as Jewish chaplain for the two hospitals affiliated with the Mayo Clinic, while serving as rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel, the multi-denominational synagogue in Rochester.

In 1977 Rabbi Bennett began a doctoral program at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he began work towards a Ph.D. in Theology, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. During this time he also taught courses in various Jewishly-related subjects, first at Emeritus College at the College of Marin, and later at other colleges and universities in the Bay Area.

In 1979 Rabbi Bennett was elected Rabbi at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco, where he served for the next three years. Following his service there he was appointed Assistant Director of the Northern Pacific Regional office of the American Jewish Congress, a position he held for five years, until becoming Regional Executive Director in 1989. From July, 1993 until August 1996, he served as the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, headquartered in Oakland, California. At the end of September 1996, Rabbi Bennett became the Rabbi at Temple Israel in Alameda.

Active in interfaith and other civic activities, Rabbi Bennett has also served on the Executive Board of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition of Minnesota, the Task Force on Self-Esteem of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, the Intergroup Clearinghouse, the Mayor's Committee for a Living Holocaust Memorial, the Mayor's Committee on Continuing Education against Nazism, the Conference of Black and Jewish Clergy, the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition on AIDS, the Coalition for Civil Rights, the San Francisco Conference on Religion, Race and Social Concerns, the Northern California Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Observance Committee, the San Francisco Interfaith Council, as Chair of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the Interfaith Voice for Religious Liberty, the East Bay Interfaith Coalition on HIV/AIDS, and "Yet Another Jew for Affirmative Action". He was the Jewish representative taking testimony at the U.N.- sponsored Oakland Hearings on Racism as a Violation of Human Rights and served on the Religious Service Providers Task Force of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the Board of Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group in San Francisco. In addition, Rabbi Bennett currently serves on the Alta Bates Hospital Chaplaincy Advisory Board, the East Bay Council of Rabbis, the Editorial Council of Sequoia Magazine, and the Leadership Team and the Race and Community Relations Planning Team of the FAITHS Initiative of the San Francisco Foundation

Rabbi Bennett's hobbies include sailing, socio-linguistics, playing keyboard instruments, computers, music and the other fine arts.

back to top 

Cantor Pamela Rothmann Sawyer

Although not a native Californian, Cantor Pamela Rothmann Sawyer arrived here when she was 4-months old. She attended schools in Palo Alto, but left the Bay Area to study marine biology at the University of California, San Diego campus. Two weeks after arriving there, she changed her major to music. She earned her B.A. with honors in performance and composition in 1975. The following year she began her studies in composition at San Francisco State University, where she received her M.A. in 1979. She has studied in Germany, Holland, and Israel.

After graduation, Cantor Sawyer performed professionally in the Bay Area in local orchestras, pop, jazz, salsa groups, and was a member of the Oakland Symphony Chorus. She has appeared on pop music and classical music recordings. In her own ensemble, Bay Area Women’s Quartet (sometimes Quintet), BAWQ, she performed all over the Bay Area. As a member of Orquestra Sabrosita she performed across the country. Most recently, she has appeared with Kleztet, specializing in Klezmer and jazz, a group comprised of a rabbi, a psychiatrist, an engineer, and a cantor.

In 1992, Cantor Sawyer began serious Jewish and Hebrew studies. She began mentor studies with local cantors. She was accepted into the Cantors Assembly several years ago. While studying, she was employed in 1994 by Temple Israel first as their Cantorial Soloist, and now as their Cantor. She is responsible for B’nei Mitzvah training, as well as religious studies for the 7th grade. This year she has instituted a new program of Service in Song, called "Friday Night Chai," or FNC. In addition to her Temple Israel work, she taught for 4 years at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, has taught at B’nei Torah in Antioch, and tutored students from Kol Shofar in Tiburon and from other congregations. She is currently a member of the Guild of Temple Musicians, the Cantors Assembly, is the co-chair of the Alameda Ministerial Association, and is on the Northern California Board of Cantors and the National Association of Jewish Chaplaincy.  

In the international sphere, she has been teaching fledgling Jewish communities in Germany how to leyn Torah and Haftarah, and how to lead services, as well as conducting services. In 1999, Cantor Sawyer was invited to teach in Berlin, Germany at a Symposium for Women in Judaism, where women scholars from around the world were invited to present papers and to teach. She continues to give workshops Germany and to consult with clergy of communities in other European countries. May of 2002 Cantor Sawyer presented a workshop in High Holiday Trope and Nusach in Kassel, Germany. This fall, she will again be in Germany to work with congregations.

Cantor Sawyer believes strongly in education, for others, as well as for herself. She enjoys studying languages, playing music, reading mysteries, gardening, bicycling, her dog Quincy Miles the jazz dog, and travel.