Rabbi Langer became the Rabbi in Freehold Sept. 16, 2019, taking over for Rabbi Ira Grussgott, who moved to Israel after three years at the congregation. After serving in both the U.S. Army and Navy, Langer received ordination from the Orthodox Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel in Brooklyn, which no longer exists, and he became a pulpit rabbi and later a hospice chaplain.

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Rabbi Langer’s religious background also meshes with the congregation’s commitment to traditional Judaism, which follows Orthodox practice and liturgy but allows mixed seating and driving to and from the synagogue on Shabbat and holidays. Steve Weisman, shul president at the time, said the rabbi is “very Orthodox, but he can be flexible to a point without compromising his religious principles.”

 

Rabbi Langer is an East Brunswick resident who stays in a congregation-owned townhouse on Shabbat and holidays, Langer is originally from Babylon, N.Y. He holds a bachelor’s degree in allied health services from the University of North Florida. Langer was in the Navy from 1975-81 as a hospital corpsman, and then in the Army between 1983 and 1987 as a medical service corpsman, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He is a member Covered Bridge Post 536 of the Jewish War Veterans in Manalapan. He served as a hospice chaplain in southern New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Englewood, and last served with the Visiting Nurse Association before coming to Freehold.

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For the last year, he has been the director of pastoral care at the Jewish Home for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Freehold, a position in which he will continue. Being able to split his time between the synagogue and nearby Jewish Home, he said, “will help both communities” and “is like a gift for me.”

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He served in pulpits in Zanesville, Ohio, and Dallas, as well as Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Kitchener, Ontario. His last pulpit was at Congregation Anshe Emeth in South River, which merged with the Highland Park Conservative Temple in 2007.

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Langer and his wife, Marcia, have been married for 42 years, and they have two sons, Joseph, 30, and Philip, 27.