Rabbi Jacob Pressman takes a bow

By Danielle Berrin
Published on December 3, 2008

Pressman was a founding father of Camp Ramah in California, University of Judaism (now American Jewish University), Brandeis-Bardin Institute and Los Angeles Hebrew High School, among other projects

A pioneering minyan celebrates double chai birthday

By Amy Klein
Published on November 1, 2007

Pressman and the group did create another entity, what has become known as "The Library Minyan," named for the downstairs library where the 15 families began to meet weekly to pray. Members organized and participated in all parts of the service (especially the weekly sermon), discussed all aspects of Judaism and debated the increasingly complex issues of the changing times.Thirty-six years later, the Library Minyan, with its opportunities for engagement and intellectual rigor is seen as having helped to start a revolution -- empowering lay leaders in the essential structure of spiritual leadership. It has become a model for many Conservative and Reform congregations seeking to create alternatives both within and outside the fold of conventional synagogue structure, and has allowed individual congregations to morph it into new and ever-changing incarnations.This weekend, the Library Minyan will celebrate its double-chai anniversary (two times "life") with a Shabbaton Nov. 2-4 that will remember the past but also look toward the future.

A Rabbi’s Journey

By Gaby Wenig
Published on May 30, 2002

Rabbi Jacob Pressman decided to become a rabbi because he could not choose among all the career options that were available to him.