He was a retired stand-up comic, comedy writer, and sales guru...  why were his sermons putting the kehillah to sleep?

Daniel Steinberg knew he could hold a crowd, given his background as a retired stand-up comic, comedy writer and sales guru. But when he volunteered to become an interim rabbi of his shul until a replacement was found, he couldn’t believe his sermons put the kehillah to sleep. Until he created an approach that would engage and inspire – which he’s happy to share with anyone who doesn’t want to be used for a nap 

Daniel Steinberg first stepped up to the pulpit in the summer of 2022 as the interim rabbi at Congregation Ahavas Shalom in Columbus, Ohio. The shul had already been through two rabbis in the last 15 years since Rabbi Steinberg had been living in Columbus (where he moved from Palo Alto, California), and while a few individuals in town had the skills to hold the fort as the board searched for a new rav, Rabbi Steinberg’s flexible schedule and background in public speaking made him the ideal pinch hitter.

Daniel was eager to help out, and he embraced the challenge even though he had no aspirations of joining the rabbinate permanently. But, with an ongoing commitment as an adult educator, an outreach professional, a kollel rebbi for several years, as well as several decades of stand-up comedy and a dozen years of experience as a digital marketer under his belt, Daniel Steinberg knew how to attract attention, create interest, and inspire people to take action. In short, he was confident that he possessed the skills to fill in until a permanent replacement was found.

Which made it all the more ironic that his first Shabbos derashah flopped.

“All I knew about engaging people and making an impact with my words went out the window,” Rabbi Steinberg remembers.

He tried even harder the next week, only to be met with the same (lack of) reaction.

“I thought it essential to come across as dignified and scholarly from the pulpit,” he reflects on his failed start. “I would slip into what I now call ‘rabbi mode,’ using flowery language and unnatural pauses and posturing. I built complex devar Torah masterpieces that were totally irrelevant to my audience, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from me.”

Week after week, Rabbi Steinberg kept at it, putting his heart and soul into creating derashos that were meant to uplift and inspire, while simultaneously coming across as cerebral and lomdish. And week after week, he watched as more and more congregants used the derashah to catch a midmorning nap or become deeply engrossed in their Torah pamphlets. As a retired stand-up comedian who could effortlessly engage a large audience for a 45-minute set, Rabbi Steinberg was deeply bothered that he couldn’t give a 15-minute speech without losing the crowd.

Steinberg realized that if he was going to be the interim rabbi for a while, he needed to be himself and not some caricature of what he thought a rav should look like.

Let me incorporate some elements of entertainment into my derashah instead of being so serious, he thought.

That week, he prepared by drawing on the skills he had developed in the entertainment and marketing fields with the aim of holding the congregants’ attention. He kept his derashah simple, balancing Torah thoughts and themes with personal stories that he used as parables to bring home his message.

Shabbos morning there was a perceptible shift.

“The first thing I noticed was that people stayed awake, alert, and attentive,” Steinberg remembers.