Rabbi has good feeling for Marlboro synagogue
Rabbi Toni Shy excited about prospect of meeting congregants
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

Rabbi Toni Shy

MARLBORO - Rabbi Toni Shy believes that Marlboro is where she was meant to be.

Shy, the new spiritual leader at the Marlboro Jewish Center, Congregation Ohev Shalom, School Road West, said she felt drawn to Marlboro. She said two people at her former congregation on Long Island, N.Y., mentioned the Marlboro Jewish Center to her.

Shy said that after she conducted some research and visited Marlboro to talk with the people she had a strong feeling this was the place for her.

With Shy's arrival, the Marlboro Jewish Center said it has earned the distinction of being the largest conservative congregation in the world to be served by a female rabbi.

A spokeswoman for the synagogue said there are 765 families or units (other than families) at the synagogue.

Before moving to Marlboro, Shy was the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel, Port Washington, N.Y., for 11 years. That was the first synagogue she served as a rabbi after her ordination in 1996. Her previous congregation was smaller than the Marlboro Jewish Center; however, Shy does not see that as a challenge, but rather as an advantage.

"There are a lot more people to love and to get to know," she said of her new position in Marlboro.

She described the transition to Marlboro as easy and said it seemed right from the beginning.

"Rabbis are dreamers," Shy said.

Included in her dreams for the congregation, Shy hopes to make a strong connection with the people. Ways to build that connection include asking members to attend services and give the rabbi feedback in order to create a dialogue; she also hopes to invite synagogue members to her home.

Shy said she will develop a connection with the congregation's children through their life cycle events, as well as through the synagogue's Hebrew school, in which she will be actively involved. She said she plans to oversee and to teach in the Hebrew school.

"Education is a love of mine," Shy said.

Shy said she was drawn to religious thinking from the time she was a youngster growing up in California. She said she was not raised in a formal Jewish home, but craved knowledge. Visits to the library would find Shy reading in the religious section.

"I read about all religions," the rabbi said.

Once she obtained a driver's license, Shy was able to attend services by herself

"God was in my life since I was young," she said.

Shy has earned two bachelor of arts degrees and two master of arts degrees. She earned her master's degrees at the University of Judaism, California, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), New York.

Shy attended JTS at a time before women could be ordained as a rabbi, therefore she only received her master's degree at the school. Years later Shy and her family moved to Teaneck, Bergen County, so that she was able to once again attend JTS and to receive her ordination, which she did in 1996.

Shy is the mother of five children, Rami, Trysa, Yael, Daviel and Breetel. Through her husband, Dr. Herb Bilick, Shy's family grew even more, adding stepdaughters Leila, Michal and Eva.

The rabbi's first grandchild was born in July when her daughter Trysa and her husband, Peter, welcomed a son, Malachai.

The Marlboro Jewish Center congregation will become a part of Shy's family and she said of her arrival in the community, "It felt like coming home."