As Rabbi Tracee Rosen was unloading boxes after arriving in Arizona in 2010, her new neighbor informed her that a local Reform congregation, Temple Gan Elohim, was looking for a rabbi. She and her family had relocated to Greater Phoenix to be closer to her mother-in-law, moving from Salt Lake City, where she served for six years as the rabbi of Utahâs largest synagogue.
Her family attended Shabbat services there that Friday night and soon after, Rosen accepted an offer to become the congregationâs spiritual leader, a role she continued until the congregation closed in 2016.
When it closed, Gan Elohim was housed at Beth Emeth Congregation, a Conservative congregation in the West Valley, and Rosen was also leading Saturday morning services for Beth Emeth members. By the next year, she was Beth Emethâs spiritual leader. Now, after a year of leading the congregation through a pandemic, she has announced that she plans to retire from the pulpit.