SOJC introduces new interim rabbi

Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation will hold a Meet and Greet for its new part-time interim rabbi, David Shmidt Chapman, on Aug. 22, 2021.

Rabbi Chapman has served as rabbinic intern at Sutton Place Synagogue in New York City as well as a chaplaincy Intern for Project ORE for the homeless.

In the fall, he will be entering his final year at Jewish Theological Seminary, where he is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He originally hails from Chicago and received a Bachelor of Arts with the highest honors in Dramatic Arts from The University of North Carolina.

Chapman is a recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Grant for a yearlong study in Budapest, Hungary, as well as a Henry Luce Scholarship for a yearlong study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he professionally directed and taught theater. At the time, he never imagined combining his love of the arts with Jewish culture.

In 2008, Chapman became interested in how he could use his background in the arts and theater to "explore Jewish community" in the context of "authentic, sincere Jewish engagement."

"I didn't grow up with my eyes set on a Jewish professional career or even expecting to have any active Jewish involvement, necessarily," Chapman told the New York Jewish Week.

After receiving a master's in nonprofit leadership from Fordham in 2015, Chapman realized he not only had a place within the broader social justice world, but a responsibility to the Jewish community.

Prior to starting rabbinical school Chapman worked for several Jewish organizations, including serving as associate director for Programs and Partners at the New Israel Fund, an organization that supports religious pluralism in Israel. In addition, Chapman is a member of ROI (the Schusterman Foundation's leadership network) and was included in the Jewish Week's list of "36 Under 36" New York Jews making a difference.

Chapman is the founding director of "PEW-ish," which launched in 2014 in the Loft at Judson Memorial Church in New York. The project features a group of short plays inspired by the ubiquitous Pew Research Center study that details declining Jewish engagement in America; some of the plays offer a direct commentary on the Pew study while others were more focused on personal interpretations of Judaism.

He also created and starred in "Raoul Wallenberg: Letters from Young Men," a solo play that interweaves selections from Chapman's childhood diaries and the published archive of the letters of Wallenberg, who rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II.

"A lot of things I just sort of absorbed from growing up in a liberal home and going to a liberal arts college," he said. "But [now, I do] those things specifically as [a] Jew ... thinking about Jewish tradition, text, wisdom and communal obligation drives those commitments."

Chapman and his husband, Jonathan, have a son, Elior Samuel Chapman, who was named after relatives, as well as Elie Wiesel.

For more information about the Meet and Greet, email the synagogue at office@sojc.org or call (407)-239-5444.

Portions of this article are from the New York Jewish Week.