Rabbi Isaac Furman is a living legend in the Beth El community. For fifty years he has been a source of guidance and inspiration for all his students, young and old alike. In terms of his own education, Rabbi Furman holds a Bachelors Degree from Yeshiva University in History and Economics and was ordained by Yeshiva University in 1957. With his ordination he also received a Masters degree in Hebrew Letters. He taught foreign languages at the University of Buffalo for 3 years. While there, he obtained another Masters Degree in Linguistics.

But it was here in South Jersey that this master teacher truly blossomed. Rabbi Furman founded the Beth El Academy in 1960 with a small handful of students, many of whom he used to pick up in his own car on the way to school. In time that school grew and was later renamed the Kellman Academy. It was Rabbi Kellman who initially brought Rabbi Furman to Beth El in order to run the Beth El Religious School as well as the fledgling Academy. The two enjoyed a close personal and professional relationship.

Under Rabbi Furman’s direction, both schools flourished, and with almost super-human strength, Rabbi Furman ran both simultaneously. At one point, the schools numbered over 1000 students and Rabbi Furman knew every single student by name! In time, the Beth El Religious School got a new director, and Rabbi Furman focused his energies solely on his beloved Kellman Academy where he not only served in administration, but as a teacher as well. Even after his retirement as Head of School, Rabbi Furman continued to teach on a daily basis, as he does to this day. Nothing makes Rabbi Furman happier than to see Jewish children’s eyes light up with joy as they learn more about themselves through understanding their Jewish heritage.

Of course, in addition to serving on the faculty of the now Kellman-Brown Academy, Rabbi Furman continues to be a spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El, serving as an invaluable resource to the members of the congregation as well as a mentor to Rabbi Krupnick and Rabbi Arnowitz.

Rabbi Furman and his wife Molly are the proud parents of two daughters, Esther and Phyllis and six wonderful grandchildren. Molly has been a successful teacher at Beth El Religious School since September 1973, inspiring generations of young Jewish children with her own enthusiasm for Jewish life and learning. It is truly impossible to calculate the number of Jewish lives that the Furmans have touched in their fifty years at Beth El.

                                Contact: rif1@comcast.net