TEMPLE BET EMET: Spiritual calling

Rabbi believes in hospice work, unique sermons

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He's had three professions -- as a lawyer, a teacher and, most recently, a rabbi. Now, Craig Rosenstein has been appointed to lead the Temple Bet Emet congregation, which meets at the Mountain Shadows Community Center, 9107 Del Webb Blvd. Services are held there every first and third Friday of the month. The appointment was effective January 2006.

"He brings a lot of experience to the temple," said Murray Silver, the temple's vice president of ritual. "He worshiped with us for two seasons during the High Holy Days and everybody seemed to like him. He's personable and gives great sermons."

Although he enjoyed all his professions, Rosenstein said he likes being a rabbi best. He asked his congregation to call him simply "Rabbi Craig." He is specifically drawn to hospice work and is affiliated with Odyssey Hospice. He has served there more than two years.

By his nature, he said, he is a good listener.

"When I got reinvolved with synagogue life, I really got into it," he said. "I had these voices inside my head. They were saying, 'Do this.' It (being a pastoral leader) was always in me, it was just time for it to come out."

In his early 20s, Rosenstein questioned why his rabbi covered only two topics in his sermons: the state of Israel and the Holocaust. Worshipers always knew what that week's sermon would be, he said, as the two topics were swapped back and forth. It's something he strives to avoid at Temple Bet Emet. By the same token, Rosenstein admits to "not being very topical" with his sermons and avoids political issues.

"I'm not sure it's a rabbi's job to be topical as much as giving the congregation the spark to make them (think)," he said.

Rosenstein came to Las Vegas in 1994. He was born in Los Angeles, attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated from Duke University in 1977 with a bachelor's in medieval renaissance studies.

He continued his education at Western State University College of Law through 1980, earning a juris doctor degree. He used that degree in his position as a research attorney until 1990.

He left the law that year to pursue graduate studies in education at the University of Southern California. There, he earned a California Full-Clear teaching credential in 1992 and began teaching social studies.

In 1994, the rabbi moved with his family to Las Vegas and taught at The Meadows School, at Palo Verde High School and at Desert Torah Academy. He is presently an adjunct professor at the Art Institute of Las Vegas, teaching there since 2002.

Rosenstein and his family live at Mountain's Edge in the southwest part of the valley. He and his wife, Audrey, were high school sweethearts but went on to marry different spouses. They rediscovered each other after both their marriages ended. They married in 1991.

Audrey brought three children to the marriage, the couple had two children together and then they began adopting foster children. In November of 2003, they adopted a girl. In June 2004, they adopted a boy. In March 2005, they adopted another boy and they are in the process of formally adopting another, a girl. Their children range in age from 2 to 26.

"What I admire most about the rabbi is him taking on all those foster children. He must have eight or nine kids. Who in their right mind has that many kids?" joked Burt Gilman, president of the temple.

Audrey works part-time and runs the donation cottage at Child Haven.

"She took sacks of donated clothing, got space, got racks to display them. She turned it into a Nordstrom," Rosenstein said.