Rabbi Joseph Prass Oral History Interview
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Title
Rabbi Joseph Prass Oral History Interview
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Description
Rabbi Joseph Prass was interviewed on December 20, 2021 by Lindsay Resnick at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.|bioghist::Rabbi Joseph William "Joe" Prass (1968- ) graduated from the University of Minnesota and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained in 1999. Rabbi Prass has served as a congregational rabbi for 20 years at Temple Emanu El in Houston, Texas, Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Temple Emanu-El of Greater Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. Rabbi Prass also served as the regional director for NFTY (National Federation of Temple Youth) and has developed educational programs for all ages. Rabbi Prass was appointed Interim Director of the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education in 2017 and was officially appointed to Director of the Center in 2019. Currently, Rabbi Prass serves as the congregational rabbi at Congregation Ner Tamid (Marietta, Ga.) as well as the Director of the Weinberg Center and Holocaust Educator at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, where he is responsible for bringing Holocaust education to synagogues, organizations, and schools. Rabbi Prass resides in Dunwoody, Georgia. He is married to Leslie Wise Prass and has three children, Hannah, Adam, and Jenna.|scope content::The interview begins with Rabbi Prass describing the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted his relationship to being Jewish. Rabbi Prass notes that Shabbat dinners with his family have been made possible due to the virtual nature of Friday night Shabbat services during the pandemic. He goes on to share the most interesting and most difficult things he has encountered during the pandemic. Rabbi Prass describes his experience with making virtual services meaningful and making connections to his congregations in different ways that he otherwise would in person. Rabbi Prass goes on to detail where he was in March 2020 when he realized the Coronavirus was serious and how it impacted his life routines. He goes on to share how the Breman Museum adapted to being virtual and how they adopted a real estate technology to give interactive and meaningful tours of the museum during the pandemic. Rabbi Prass also reflects on having two of his three children home during the pandemic and shares how they had to work around everyone’s virtual schooling and meetings. Rabbi Prass then recounts how COVID-19 affected the practice of Pesach in both 2020 and 2021. He shares how he and his family set up a large seder over Zoom and how that seder helped him practice for his congregation’s community seder. Rabbi Prass discusses how Judaism, Jewish history, and Jewish culture has been a resource for him during the pandemic. He recalls that praying for one hour every week really helped ground him and how doing bar and bat mitzvot over Zoom was an immense source of joy for both him and his congregation. He also notes how the pandemic affected their practice of the High Holy Days and discussed what it was like doing services at Congregation Ner Tamid. Rabbi Prass shares what it was like when his son tested positive for COVID-19 and how they navigated having him in the house while he was sick. The interview shifts to cover the murder of George Floyd and Rabbi Prass’ reaction to the tragedy as a rabbi, a human being, and as a Minnesota native. Rabbi Prass shares that the murder made him look at Minneapolis with great sadness as the rioting and lootings were happening throughout the city in response to the murder. He reflects on the trip he and his family took to see the George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020. He talks about how his Jewish identity played a role in his understanding the actions relating to George Floyd and the general civil unrest. He discusses three Jewish values that he lives by and how they helped him make sense of what had happened and what needs to happen in the future. Rabbi Prass shares that the Holocaust survivors he works with at the Breman Museum give him hope during the pandemic and that he believes distance learning is a positive change that will persist after the pandemic passes. The interview closes with Rabbi Prass sharing a message to future generations.
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Collection
The Breman Museum - Collecting These Times Oral Histories