For more than seven years, Ilana Schwartzman has led Utah’s largest Jewish congregation, but the third-generation rabbi and first-time mother is leaving Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami to be closer to family on the East Coast.
“With the changes to my family makeup [she now has a baby daughter], I am looking forward to [moving] closer to [husband] Art’s and my support systems,” the 39-year-old rabbi recently announced to her 350-family east-side synagogue.
When she met her husband-to-be, Art Kieres, who was reared Catholic, she warned him that the relationship could last only if he converted.