Rabbi Billy Dreskin grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. His elementary education was acquired at Bond Hill Elementary School, after which he attended Cincinnati Country Day, then Crest Hills Junior High, and graduated from Walnut Hills High School.  After successfully de-matriculating from six weeks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he attended Brandeis University where he studied music, twice receiving the Reiner Prize in Music Composition, and graduating in 1980.  After two years in New York City pursuing an elusive career in musical theater, he entered Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1982.  During his years at HUC-JIR, his musical, “Personals,” opened off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater (It featured Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld” and was co-written by his friends David Crane and Marta Kauffman who have recently finished their stint as Executive Producers of the hit television series, “Friends.” You can actually find the show’s poster, with his name listed in the credits, still hanging in the Minetta’s lobby!).

Billy was ordained in 1987. During his years at HUC, he served (of all places) Woodlands Community Temple, first as Rabbinic Intern (with Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro), then as Assistant Rabbi and Interim Rabbi before departing for the wild, untamed frontier of Cleveland, Ohio.  In Cleveland, he served as Associate Rabbi (working with Rabbi David Gelfand) for six years, overseeing their Young People’s Congregation, a “congregation within a congregation” for young singles, couples, and families. In 1995, he came back home to Woodlands.

Billy has performed with the nationally renowned Jewish tzedakah musical collective, BEGED KEFET. They have three recordings: The First Album, Go Out in Joy and One Little Dot.  Visit oysongs.com to download.

He is married to Cantor Ellen Dreskin, both of whom are extremely proud of their collaborative achievements:  Katie, Jonah (z"l) and Aiden.

BELONGING ... A Synonym for Temple Life

It’s interesting to me that the word "belonging" contains within it the word "longing." One describes the feeling of wanting but not having, while the other references the satisfaction that comes from having, and not wanting for, a sense of community, a sense of not being completely on our own in the world.

The word "sanctuary" also interests me. It connotes a place to which one flees in order to find safety from danger. And yet, the Woodlands sanctuary is built with so many windows, one couldn’t completely flee anything in there. I believe that’s precisely what our founders were aiming for when they designed our original worship space. While our sanctuary should indeed be a place to which one may come for quieting of the heart and calming of the spirit, the windows remind us that not only must we eventually return to our lives outside of the temple’s walls, we must also consider life "out there" while we’re tucked away within its warm, welcoming frame.

Jewish law requires synagogues to have windows. Rashi thought it was so that one could see the sky while praying in order to increase reverence and devotion. Whatever’s out there, our tradition wants us to see it. For me, looking outside our sanctuary at the green trees and grass and the blue skies above, and even the occasional bunny hopping across a snow-covered lawn, deepens my love for the world. It reminds me that I’m part of it, and lucky to be so.

Which brings me back to "belonging." Belonging at Woodlands is a two-fold idea.

First, most of us yearn to be connected in some meaningful fashion to people who live around us. I like describing houses of worship as the front porches of the 21st century. Before air conditioning and back decks, we shared a greater sense of neighborhood with our neighbors. Now we often seek out neighborliness elsewhere. One of our most important shared projects here at Woodlands is to join in making it a neighborly place. At its least complex level, your temple ought to be a place you’re comfortable coming to, a place you enjoy spending time with the people you find there.

Second, I think we get it wrong when we view our temple as a place to get away from things. Gemilut Hasadim ("deeds of lovingkindness") are part of the three-legged support structure of Jewish life (the other two ... learning and prayer). In every generation, our synagogues have challenged us to include a healthy appetite for social action and community service in our religious living. For the rabbis-of-old (and this old rabbi too), gemilut hasadim are indispensable to the person who is drawn to "religious living" (don’t be fooled into thinking that "religious" can only be what someone else looks like). We may only see a beautiful landscape outside our sanctuary’s windows, but the call of those windows most assuredly points to the unhappiness beyond our front lawn.

Belonging is a two-fold gift each of us receives upon joining Woodlands Community Temple. May it bring good friends and neighbors to each and every member of our own and of our temple’s families. And may it bring our attention and our hearts and our efforts to those we may never meet in-person, but who so desperately need us as friends and neighbors. May our "longing" be for all of these goodnesses, and may our "belonging" be the answer to our prayers.