We met Rabbi Lobb when she officiated at the funeral of my grandfather in Port St. Lucie. We came from New York and had not met her before, but she showed an intuitive understanding of the complexities of various family dynamics and crafted a service that was so poignant and relevant we were all astounded. Rabbi Shafir Lobb brings her multifaceted perspective to bear in her work as a rabbi. She is an engineer with multiple patents to her name, an accomplished pilot and a captain in the Air National Guard. Her military background was particularly relevant because my grandfather served in the Merchant Marine and had a military funeral, and I served our country as a United States Air Force officer. She was so perceptive and intuitively seemed to understand our varying needs that we decided (even though my husband, son, and I live overseas in Italy) to have Rabbi Lobb officiate at our son’s bar mitzvah to be held in New York. She did the lessons via Skype and really provided great insight into Jewish ethics and values; this was particularly important since we are living in a largely Catholic country with no significant Jewish community support. Her willingness to address questions of what it means to be an ethical Jew in modern society really resonated.
— Jessica Ursell
Watch Rabbi Lobb discuss the spirit of Rosh HaShanah:
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
