Rabbi Celia Surget Finds a Home at Congregation Albert
by Norma Libman
It seems an unusual path, but when you look at it closely it all makes sense. Born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, to a Jewish American mother and a Catholic French father, how did Celia Surget find her way to the rabbinate and Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico?
“We spoke French in school and English at home,” she says in describing her background. Her parents were professional musicians. They both played oboe and her father also played the English horn. But she had an uncle who was a Reform Rabbi and, she says, he encouraged her parents to take her and her younger brother to a Reform synagogue in Geneva.
“My mother was an educator at a Reform temple,” she explains. “My dad wasn’t Jewish, but he was very much intent on us being raised as Jews. Growing up, he’d had some bad experiences with the Catholic Church. He loved life and was very much a champion for social justice. He had been part of the French Resistance during World War II, carrying messages across the demarcation line in France at the age of four. Who would suspect a little boy with angelic blond curls? He was very much aligned with Jewish values. And he was a ‘bon vivant’ – he loved life.”
The serious beginnings of her interest in Judaism happened around the time of her Bat Mitzvah. “My mom and some of her friends decided they wanted to start a youth group,” she says. “So they got together, made it happen, and insisted we all attend. I made some very close friends during that time and I grew up with a rabbi who was incredibly supportive of the youth in the synagogue. He insisted that the synagogue pay for some of us to go to the URJ Kutz Camp in upstate New York, a Reform overnight summer camp, which we did. I went for two summers and then I went back as a counselor and then as the head counselor. And during that time, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. It was because of our rabbi. Jewish life in Switzerland is so limited. He wanted us to experience the broader world of Reform Judaism. That got me hooked. And, also, with my mother being an educator, my brother and I would go to every event early, to help set up, and somewhere along the line I fell in love with being in the synagogue. And through the camp I made some really good friends, and most of us became either rabbis or cantors or educators or professional Jews in some way. So it just made sense. There wasn’t any great revelation moment. It just made perfect sense in the context of my life. And so when I was eighteen years old I decided I was going to become a rabbi. And I haven’t looked back since. No regrets.”
Surget says most of her rabbinic journey has been involved with education, and that she’d rather see the children at camp than in Sunday School if she had a choice. “I didn’t become passionate about Judaism because of my experience in Sunday School. I had a good time there. I enjoyed going, but where I really embraced my Jewish identity was at summer camp. It was transformative,” she says.
The school at Congregation Albert has a program where high school kids come in and tutor the younger children in their Hebrew studies. “I really believe kids will learn if they feel safe and they’re having fun,” Surget says. “I believe in absorbing information through positive experiences. I believe in building experiences. We have a really high attendance rate, and we have about fifteen teenagers now who show up here on a Sunday morning. I pay them to show up, and they do an amazing job, and then they inspire the next generation. Most of my Jewish journey has been involved in education. I really enjoy just watching young people and their families feel empowered in their Jewish identity. That’s why we hand out certificates at the end of every school year noting something that they’ve achieved in this year. It’s a way of saying to each child – you matter. And we see you.”
All that said, what brought Surget to Albuquerque?
She had worked in a congregation in London for nearly ten years. “It was an amazing place to be,” she says. “I had a senior rabbi who was really supportive and encouraging, and I went into that position thinking I would only ever be an associate. Because I’m a really great associate. I’m a really good team player. I’m great at supporting other people.
“Then, just for the two High Holy Days before Covid, 2018 and 2019, the senior rabbi, for a number of reasons – he was bereaved one year and the following year he got really sick – I ended up having to pull the congregation through the High Holy Days. We had a great structure that was very supportive. And I realized that maybe I could shoulder that responsibility. Then, over the pandemic, I realized that I was actually ready to leave London. I had done what I could there, I was in one of the largest congregations, and there really weren’t any job openings. I thought, I have an American passport. Let’s see.”
She says she applied through the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) and had a very positive experience with them. Also, at that time Rabbi Paul Citrin, rabbi at Congregation Albert from 1978 to 1996, stepped into the picture. Surget’s parents had divorced, her mother had remarried, and her stepfather was an Israeli Reform rabbi who had known Rabbi Citrin since they were sixteen years old. “My stepfather had lived with Paul’s family as an exchange student,” she says, “and Paul told them about the job in Albuquerque, and my mom said ‘You are going to apply, right?’ and I applied. After my first interview I told my mom that if I don’t get this job I’m going to be crushed.”
Certainly Albuquerque is very different from London or Geneva. But Surget saw some things in common between the cities and says she knew at once this was the right place for her and she’s thankful it worked out as it did.
“Geneva and Albuquerque have that same sort of outdoor lifestyle mentality, which was really attractive. I was ready for a change. Living in that north London Jewish bubble had its benefits but London was very congested. I was ready. And when I told our senior rabbi I was thinking about it, he said, ‘What took you so long? We’ve known for years you were ready. Absolutely. Do it.’ So having that support was really valuable.
“Moving here was a really interesting change in some ways, though. I think one of the best examples was my first Purim here. I mentioned to some of the Sisterhood women that we needed to order hamantaschen. And in my mind, where I used to live, there were three delis on the street. You’d choose one and order them. They looked at me and said, ‘Rabbi, we don’t order them here. We make them.’ But that’s been a great learning experience. I’d had a rich Jewish life. Coming here has meant that I’ve had to really think deeply about what I want the Jewish narrative to be. And how I want to find fulfilling and meaningful Jewish experiences in a place that is fairly isolated. The benefits are that we can be incredibly creative. I’ve had to challenge some of my own ideas because you have to adapt to where you are living. And that’s been really interesting.”
Surget came to Albuquerque in interesting times. Covid was rampant. The congregation had suffered an outrageous breach of conduct from an employee, putting their finances at serious risk. “It was a gamble on both sides,” she says. “They took a gamble on someone they’d only seen from the neck up (interviews were conducted on Zoom) and I took a gamble by going to a place I’d never been to. But the work that needed to be done was work I knew how to do.
“Trust had been broken by the embezzlement but I give a lot of credit to the board members who really stuck with it. Now our financial numbers are better. Our membership has grown, our Early Childhood Center is near capacity. We have 95 kids in Sunday School, we’ll have six B’nai Mitzvot this year and about 16 next year. And we have an amazing staff.”
The only downside, of course, has been the terrible events of October 7, and the need to respond to growing antisemitism. But here, again, Surget is thankful for the community she is now a part of.
“It was a devastating day, for us and for Israel. If there is any silver lining – and I’m not sure that’s the way to say it – it’s that it has forced the community to be more engaged with Israel. The good or the bad. It has forced us to really consider the fact that it is not a simple conversation. We can hold multiple truths at once.
“Here at Albert we had this incredible blessing of members and even spouses and friends of members, even people who are not Jewish, who reached out and said how can we help? Two people from the neighborhood – not Jewish – called and said they would stand guard during services. And our own members have risen to the occasion and have saved us $250,000 in professional security fees by volunteering to guard the synagogue during school and services. We have a committee that has done an amazing job of recruiting volunteers. They are incredibly inspiring in their commitment.”
Rabbi Celia has truly become a part of her new community. “I’m very happy,” she says. “I left my congregation in London gently, and I came here gently. I feel very lucky.”
Norma Libman is a journalist, author and educator, a member of Congregation Albert and a NMJHS board member. Her award-winning books include "Lonely River Village" about the secret writing Chinese women wove into household linens, "The Story of the Story" about her more than 500 published articles, many for the Chicago Tribune, and "Hannah's Day at School," for young readers. Learn more about Norma at http://www.normalibman.com/index.html.
Her new 1st place awards, from the NM Press Women Communications Contest, for her articles published in the first year of the NM Jewish Journal are for:
"Marco Polo Didn't Have a Guidebook: Judith Fein Goes Deep in Exploring New Mexico" and "Looking for your ancestors? Let Judith Fein Show You How To Get the Real Story".
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