Steven Greene

At the age of five, I wanted to be a Cantor in my synagogue on the Sabbath and Holidays and a helicopter pilot (thanks to the old, black & white TV show, "Whirlybirds"). At age thirteen, my voice changed, dammit! However, I had also loved the TV show, "Rescue-8" about an early iteration of the Los Angeles Fire Department Rescue Squad. Moreover, I was drawn to flashing lights like a moth to the flame.

As I grew up, my older brother had made the decision to become a rabbi. It would be a great path for him based on his level of observance and his excellent scholastic aptitude. I started thinking about doing the same thing, but for a different reason. I wanted to bring families and children in the temple, to teach them, entertain them, inspire them and hopefully lead them to play active roles in synagogue life. I attended Brandeis University, majored in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and even spent a year in Israel, studying at Hebrew University. Yet, when the time came, the Conservative seminary did not select me for admission. And it was in part, because of that; my life took a different path over the next two years.

When I could not become a Conservative rabbi, I opted to try the Reform Movement. I was accepted on my first application. However, I had met my wife during the year in Israel and our wedding was scheduled in October of that year, thus delaying my start at the seminary in Jerusalem by one year. When we returned to the U.S. I was assigned to the campus in Cincinnati OH. It was while living there, I found a volunteer fire department in the small village we lived in. I checked it out and wanted to volunteer, however they needed responders for during the workday; they had plenty at night. I had classes. That was that.

While there, I was also teaching at a local synagogue and its director of education told me it was time for me to do that job. I had a strong enough background of teaching and he saw my talent for curriculum development and administration. It was his recommendation that brought us to Greensboro NC in 1977, where I had indeed been hired as its Director of Education & Youth.

The rest, as they say, is the history you can read about in my book, “Fish Out of Water – 2 Jewish Guys in a Deep South Firehouse.”

I have also had many varied interests over my life, including electronics, audio-visual, stage lighting and sound design and installation, Red Cross Safety classes, computers, two-way radios, fish and astronomy. Other jobs included, grocery clerk, florist, radio DJ, working with young people with emotional and physical challenges and television writer and producer.

Why did my voice change?