At Marlton synagogue, a changing of the guide

Gary Gans' boyhood plan - "I intended to be the first Jewish president" - didn't work out.

The plan he didn't make worked out quite nicely.

"When I came to the wilds of South Jersey, I didn't know I was going to stay," says the Philadelphia native, who became Congregation Beth Tikvah's first ordained rabbi in 1981.

"Looks like it was meant to be."

After "three-plus decades of growing together" with his Marlton flock of about 200 households, Gans will retire Aug. 1 but continue as rabbi emeritus for two years.

Nathan Weiner, a rabbinic intern at Beth Tikvah for five years, will assume full-time duties Aug. 1 and be formally installed in December.

"You know it's time," says Gans, 65, sporting a festive tie inspired by Salvador Dalí's "soft watches" painting at the recent gala in his honor.

The event at the Mansion in Voorhees drew nearly 200 guests and had the buoyant vibe of a family reunion.

"My very identity has been 'the rabbi of Beth Tikvah,' and that is changing a little bit," he says. "It's a challenge for me and for the congregation."

Says Beth Tikvah's president, Rachel Kreimer: "It's hard to let go. Hard to get my mind around it. My new mantra is, 'Change is hard.' "

Kreimer, an audiologist who lives in Moorestown, joined Beth Tikvah in 1982 after Gans officiated at her wedding. In 2013, he conducted the marriage ceremony of her daughter, Leah, who came up from Maryland for the gala.

"Rabbi Gans has never not been there," says Leah Kreimer Tobin, 30, an assistant director of a University of Maryland honors program. "He has been the cornerstone of every life-cycle event of our family, both happy and sad."

As rabbi emeritus, Gans "is still going to be around. He'll have an office, teach some adult education classes, and [officiate] at some life-cycle events," says Mount Laurel resident Nancy Horowitz. Her family was among the first to join Beth Tikvah, in 1976.

"The synagogue is 40 years old, and Rabbi Gans has been with us for 35 years. Our longevity is due in no small part to his leadership," adds the retired teacher.

"We know we have to move forward," says Kreimer. "Judaism is changing, synagogues are changing, and young people's affiliation with synagogues is changing.

"I adore Rabbi Nathan, and I think he will do great things for the community," she adds. "Things are changing, and with Rabbi Nathan, we can change with them."

A 2013 survey commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey found that fewer than half of the estimated 57,000 Jewish residents in Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester Counties are affiliated with a synagogue. But Beth Tikvah is seeing an influx of young families.

"We have people bringing strollers to our services now, and we haven't had that in years," says Rosanne Lemansky, an active volunteer and longtime member from Mount Laurel.

She credits the incoming rabbi with attracting new families to the synagogue from those he meets during summers he spends working at the Katz Jewish Community Center camps in Medford.

"I was on the committee that hired Rabbi Nathan as our intern," Lemansky adds. "We fell in love with him, and the transition is going smoothly."

Weiner, 34, graduates Sunday from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Gans' alma mater) in Wyncote, Montgomery County. Graduation is akin to ordination in Reconstructionist Judaism.

"As a young rabbi coming in, I can't ask for a better situation," he says. "Rabbi Gans has created an incredibly warm, intimate, and thoughtful community.

"This is a congregation that steps up to care for one another, asks questions, and engages - and he has facilitated that culture. It's a huge honor for me to be trusted with his baby."

Gans will attend Weiner's graduation and says his successor "is going to do an excellent job."

The soon-to-be rabbi emeritus, a father of two who is married to Rabbi Ilene Schneider, a writer, also says he plans to expand his family therapy practice.

He will continue as chaplain to the Evesham Township Police Department. And he will continue to have a vital role in the life of the faith community he's nurtured, and vice versa.

"This has brought a sense of satisfaction in my life, my career, my rabbinate, and my sense of purpose, that you can't put a price on," Gans says.

"My family and I will continue to be members of Beth Tikvah. I'm rooted here."

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