Daniel Rotto List of honorees Louis Rose Society Jewishsightseeing home
Writings by Daniel Rotto
-1993-
September 16, 1993—Daniel Rotto, "The Akedah: The Binding of
Isaac," delivered at Congregation Dor Hadash on Rosh Hashanah
-2004-
October 3, 2004—Daniel
Rotto, "Leviticus 21:22," delivered to the Whittier Havurah
-2005-
April 10, 2005—Daniel Rotto was
honored with the presentation of the Ira and Judith Eisenstein Award at the
Jewish Reconstruction event of April 10th 2005. The following is his
Personal Statement which was included in JRF Tribute Brochure: In 1981
after having been active for some 50 years in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
Congregations I had not found my Spiritual Home. However it was in 1981 after
reading Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan’s opus “Judaism as a Civilization” that I
realized here was a view and practice of Judaism that I could identify with.
Kaplan’s writings have
changed my outlook on religion in general, and the God concept in
particular. Kaplan’s concept of God as a
Force or Process within the universe-a Power within us -that is a natural force
that enables us to achieve our ideals, or the sum of everything that makes life
worthwhile-a Force in the universe making for goodness, justice, mercy and
truth-that was a concept I could understand. We moved to San Diego in 1982 only
to find that there was no Reconstructionist Congregation in the San Diego area.
Then one day an ad appeared in the local San Diego Jewish paper stating:
"Reconstructionist Judaism Is Coming to San Diego." We met with
Rabbi Ron (Herstik), and along with Rabbi Ron and several other families we
founded what today is Congregation
Dor Hadash-A New Generation. The first Religious Services were held on Rosh
Hashanah in September 1983/ Elliott Weinstein served as the President and I as
Vice-President. However, being a
retired accountant it became incumbent upon me to also become Treasurer and take
on the obligation of budgeting and
keeping the books During the beginning years, I, along with others did all that
was necessary to keep the congregation moving ahead. The rabbi and myself
prepared the mailings, the announcements, wrote and published the monthly
newsletter called the Hakesher; and then the Rabbi and I folded, pasted
and put on the stamps and mailed out
the various announcements. During the years I
have either chaired or served on just about every committee that was formed.
During my term as president, the membership rose to 135 member families; and it
was at that time that Rabbi Ron and I sat down and decided that it was time to
appoint a long-range planning committee. We
presented our “Vision” of how we saw the congregation perhaps in three, four
or five years hence. One of our
first and main dreams was that we would have a home of our own where all
activities would take place under one roof. It took time to accomplish this-as
it wasn’t until December 1995 that we had the opportunity to sign a long-term
lease for a Dor Hadash facility and
were then able to enhance the building with a lovely Sanctuary for Religious
Services, several classrooms for our 85 students, a social hall and kitchen, and
a professionally run library by my wife, Helene. All I can say is
“Thank You All” in helping us to carry out the Mission of Congregation Dor
Hadash which is: "To Inspire Exploration of Jewish Spirituality And Create
a Caring Committee." We continue to grow and what is of most importance, is
that our young people have become more and more active in participating in the
congregational activities.
-2006-
March 4,
2006—D'var Torah, Terumah, delivered by Daniel
Rotto on the occasion of his second bar mitzvah, at age 83.