Send Frank to Rabbinical School Put Frank Back in the Synagogue: Help Send Him to Rabbinical School Hi, I’m Frank Faine. I suspect reading this title and looking at my video/picture, you may ask, “What’s a 74-year-old gay man doing going back to school to become a Rabbi?” I’m so glad you asked. The simple answer: I believe it’s never too late to become who you know you must be. As those of you who know me will testify: ‘Frank is persistent, almost to a fault. Giving up on either his vision or his passions is never an option!’ And that’s why I’m reaching out to all of you with this Go Fund Me Campaign In August I will start my first year of a five-year program, at the Academy for Jewish Religion California (AJRCA) to fulfill my life-long passion to become a Rabbi. Since early childhood I felt this call tug on my heart, even all those years I physically left the synagogue, Even wandering away from it, its indelible imprint from my formative years, and my family history kept trying to pull me back. I am asking your help and support to make this passion and vision a reality for me now, and others. like me, who have also wandered away, so I may remind them it’s never too late to come back home to be who we must be. This will be financed through your donations to help raise an initial $35, 000 to defray the expenses I list below along with your encouragement of the work it will enable me to accomplish. A key pillar of my work as a Rabbinical student, and later as Rabbi will be to find and welcome back all those who may have wandered away, be they older adults, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or other marginalized groups. I hope to do this through collaborative, innovative projects/programs which will showcase the synagogue as an inclusive community alive with the promises of my ancestral Jewish heritage for all. All funds received, in whatever amount, will be used to cover my tuition/fees for my classes; books and supplies (including a new computer and software as AJRCA is a hybrid program); travel expenses for three in-person residential retreats each year. and any other miscellaneous expenses. Even if you are unable to donate at this time, I will certainly appreciate you passing along the link to this information to others who may be interested in contributing or learning more about this campaign. And I will certainly be posting updates on the progress of this campaign and my emerging work, here on this page too. Let me also share here a little more of the story behind this campaign My passion and desire to become a Rabbi began at an early age. Growing up in a Jewish immigrant family, only one generation removed, I was steeped early in the history and faith of my ancestors. In the stories of my grandparents, especially those of Sarah’s father, a Cantor in early 20th century Russia, along with others from my years at Temple Israel, a progressive Reform synagogue in Miami, FL. But this grounding did not hold. The chaos of a divorce, a dysfunctional blended family with some abuse, and my struggles as a creative, inward, awkward child with a stutter, who also discovered he was gay, sent me searching for other homes, for that Promised Land I knew must be there somewhere. This led me to wander in a wilderness of lots of other traditions/faiths where I hoped to discover this Promised Land, both within myself and within them. As an old country song puts it, I went “looking for love in all the wrong places, in too many strangers' faces.” This journey, like my ancient ancestors, lasted some 40-plus years. I was seeking to find the God I first met as a youngster at Temple Israel, a God to love all of me, a queer Jewish mystic with a passion to be a prophetic poet, one desiring to embrace, and share the fierce and tender love of this God I knew deep inside me, yet still struggled to put into words or actions. Part of this struggle would echo in my career path during these years: Teaching/counseling with a variety of creative, awkward, or struggling students; as a mental health counselor working with children/families with abuse issues; even a stint working with persons/families affected by HIV/AIDS as part of a multi-faith non-profit. These years sent also landed me a significant season with two churches: Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) and then the United Church of Christ (UCC), which would affirm both my desire to find God’s fierce and tender love in all the many parts of me. They would even launch me into seminary. and then into ordained leadership, albeit with my decidedly Judaic roots very much at the forefront of my pastoral work Some of this ministry also found expression in an extended multifaith chaplaincy in both hospital and hospice settings. It would be the COVID-19 Pandemic and its months of lockdown which propelled me back into the synagogue and my call to be a Rabbi. This time of forced isolation gave me the space needed to confront the mounting discomfort I’d accumulated from all the years of wandering. Here, I confronted the reality I’d physically left the synagogue, yet at the same time, its claim on my heart and soul remained ever strong, as a conversation with a friend who had made a similar journey soon revealed. However coming back to the synagogue these past three years and half years is not the end of the story, just the beginning. My involvement at the Congregation for Reform Judaism, here in Orlando, with my work in Life-Long Learning; being active in worship and music, and serving as a Board Member has again illuminated my call to be Rabbi. Like a glowing neon sign, they all point back to my core belief that it’s never too late to become what I’ve always known I must be: A Rabbi for my generation and all generations, letting my lifetime of wandering become a lighthouse, a beacon, pointing to the safety of the shore of that Promised Land waiting for me, that call all of us, regardless of who we are, enabling us to come home to God’s fierce and tender love to be all we know we can and must be.
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