Riverdale Temple says ‘konnichiwa, Rabbi’

Rabbi Thomas Gardner, who became head of Riverdale Temple at the start of last month, took a roundabout route to get there. As he puts it, he eased into the role.

“My field of study was Japan. I lived there for a few years and I have a Masters in Japanese studies,” he explained. He ended up working for the Japanese government in New York City, where he was born and raised.

“When I was an adult, I realized I knew so much about Japan and so little about my own people,” he said. 

So he started to take classes about Judaism in his spare time. But those night courses did not satiate his desire to learn — in fact, they had the opposite effect. 

“I took all the classes I could take in the evening, and I realized if I wanted to keep studying Judaism, I had to quit my job and go to school full-time,” he said.

“I always had questions about life and the meaning of what we’re doing here, and those are religious questions,” the rabbi continued. “Judaism has a lot of good answers.”

Rabbi Gardner started rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City in 2003. He noted that many of his classmates grew up knowing they wanted to be rabbis — a contrast to his circuitous route.

After becoming ordained in 2008, Rabbi Gardner made his way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He led the congregation at Beth Shalom Synagogue for seven years.

“One of the things about Baton Rouge is that is has a lot of great people, but not a lot of Jews,” he said, explaining that means there is less opportunity for connections within the community. “In Riverdale you don’t really get that problem… [this position] seemed like a great opportunity and challenge.”

“It’s a lovely town,” Rabbi Gardner said of Baton Rouge. “But I’m a New Yorker.”

These days, Rabbi Gardner is still settling in. He, his wife and 10-month-old daughter have been living with his parents in Manhattan since arriving from Louisiana. His priorities now: finding a new place to live, getting a car and figuring out where to shop in the area.