When the septuagenarian Danzig recently bowed out of the process, however, the congregation immediately turned its attention back to Bloom. It was a little shocking. But, thinking about it again, that's what made it beshert. There were a lot of reasons we weren't getting together, but it kept coming up that we should be together. In addition to allowing him a much-desired escape from the East Coast to his native Bay Area, Bloom was strongly attracted by Beth Abraham.
Services are often more vibrant, and there's a greater understanding of nontraditional families.
Those are the biggies. After graduating from Northwestern University in 1988 with a Master's in communication studies, Bloom returned to the Bay Area for a string of marketing and advertising jobs. He also worked at Reform Temple Beth Torah in Fremont as a song leader and cantor, sometimes leading services when Rabbi Steven Kaplan went on sabbatical. While Judaism always played a big role in his life, Bloom eventually decided to pursue it professionally. He attended the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he was ordained in 1995 and won the Cora Kahn Prize for outstanding preaching skills.