Shir Ha-Ma'alot

Rabbi Bernard P. King, Rabbi Emeritus For Rabbi Bernie King, spirituality equals charity... During 32 years leading Harbor Reform/Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot in Orange County, Bernard P. King constantly looked for ways to extend the power of faith beyond the synagogue.

Helping followers recover their religious heritage, campaigning for racial equality, supporting low-income families – in these ways and others, the gentle-mannered leader of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine sought to extend religious and social horizons.

It is a long list of achievements for one who amiably denies being a “holy man.”  In the late 1950s, King was 21, a junior-college student recently discharged from the U.S. Navy, when a young Rabbi befriended him and suggested that he, too, take up the rabbinate. At first, King protested, saying he was not a man touched by God, but his friend said King was qualified, in his deeds and causes, to be a spiritual leader. King arrived in 1969 at the house of worship then called Harbor Reform Temple and based in Newport Beach. The atmosphere of the synagogue, which included about 50 families, struck the newcomer as polite, sedate – and bled nearly dry of spiritual life.

 

He wasted little time in shaking up temple activities. An Israeli guitarist began performing at Friday night services. Hasidic songs joined the more traditional, organ-driven melodies. King revived a long-neglected tradition, the act of parents formally blessing their children. Warmth of spirit and manner became the Rabbi's watchwords, a way to present an open door to the Jews of Southern California. His congregation moved in the early 1990s into its own building in Irvine. The temple later was renamed Shir Ha-Ma’alot to honor Israeli children killed in a town of that name. To King, sharing is part and parcel with Judaism itself: examples of tzedakah, acts of Jewish charity. Article Courtesy of the Orange County Register

 

Rabbi King’s education includes:

Undergraduate degree in Philosophy from UCLA 

Master's Degree in Hebrew Letters

Ordained Rabbi from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College

Rabbi King is the recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards:

• The American Jewish Committee's prestigious Micha Award for humanitarian efforts in 1982.
• Together with his wife Barbara, they were honored as Humanitarians of the Year in 1993 by the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
• The Rabbi and his wife received the Anti-Defamation League's Leaders of Distinction Award in 2001.
• Rabbi King was recently invited to speak at the dedication of the Islamic Mosque in Garden Grove, the first Rabbi to be so honored at an Orange County Mosque.
• In 2005 he was selected by the Orange County Register as one of the most influential 100 shapers of Orange County over the past 100 years. Included in the list are John Wayne, President Richard Nixon and Gene Autry.

He remains actively involve in the Jewish community and strives to make the world a better place. Over the past thirty plus years, the Rabbi has nurtured close working ties with the Christian, African-American, Arab-Muslim, and Hispanic communities. He is the author of “When Naked Hassidim Laugh”, “A Spiritual Odyssey”.

 

Rabbi King’s leadership and compassion have gone beyond the local Jewish community:

• As a student Rabbi, he served Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf during its first three years (1961-1964). Temple Beth Solomon is the first congregation of the deaf in Jewish history.
• In 1965, Rabbi King marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into Montgomery from Selma.
• In 1977 he traveled to Minsk and Moscow on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
• In 1978 he was the founding President of Newport/Costa Mesa/Irvine Interfaith Council and founding Board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews of Orange County
• In 1982 Rabbi King originated the Bar/Bat Mitzvah charitable and service project on a local, regional and national level.
• Following the Rodney King riots, the Rabbi and his wife, Barbara, established an Adopt-A-Family Inner City Program as a way of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots of Orange County. After 15+ years, this unique and vital program continues to give back to the community in so many ways. In 2006, this program was renamed in memory of Jessica Herron as "The Jessica Herron Inner City Project".

In 2001 Rabbi King was named Rabbi Emeritus of Shir Ha-Ma'alot. He continues to share his spiritual messages and has been or can be presently heard at Temple Beth Tikvah, Heritage Pointe (Jewish Retirement Community), Temple Judea, Temple Etz Rimon, Scholar in Residence on cruises for Jewish Studies Institute, at B'nai Brith, “Tolling of the Boats” ceremonies for lost submarines at several Naval bases and the Kallah series at the JCC of Orange County.

 

In addition, Rabbi King has brought much comfort to grieving families. For over 15 years, he has held candlelight vigils for the organization "Parents of Murdered Children", and was the spiritual adviser to the Ron Goldman family during the O.J. Simpson trial.

 

Rabbi King and Barbara have four grown children, one granddaughter, and are avid baseball fans.