Clergy

Doug Sagal was born in Morristown, NJ and raised in Summit and Berkeley Heights. He is a graduate of Governor Livingston High School.

He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, then attended seminary at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem and New York City, where he was ordained in 1990. He received a Masters in Sacred Theology from Yale University Divinity School in 1998 and in the summer of 2019 was named a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel.

As a rabbinical student, Rabbi Sagal served as a hospital chaplain in New York City and as a student Rabbi in Pennsylvania. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom-Rodfe Zedek in Chester CT, Senior Rabbi of KAM Isaiah Israel in Chicago Il., and Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Westfield NJ. He served as police chaplain in Westfield, NJ.

He currently serves as immediate past President of the New Jersey Region of Reform Rabbis.

Rabbi Douglas Sagal, D.D.
732-842-1800, x202
rabbisagal@cbirumson.org

RABBI EMERITUS JACK M. ROSSOF, D.D.

Rabbi Rosoff is Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation B’nai Israel, serving as Rabbi for 34 years, from 1964 to 1998.  He came to CBI after serving as Jewish Chaplain at Fort Monmouth, in New Jersey.  A graduate of Harvard College, Hebrew Teachers’ College, Hebrew University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, he also has a Masters Degree in clinical and counseling psychology from Columbia University and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary. In his spare time, he enjoys watching football, eating chocolate and listening to music, especially Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. Rabbi Rosoff lives with his wife of many years, Dr. Barbara Rosoff, in Jackson, NJ. They have three children and two grandchildren.

CANTOR EMERITA MARLA BARUGEL

Cantor Barugel was the Hazzan at Congregation B'nai Israel from 1987-2013 and became Cantor Emerita in June 2013. During her term as Cantor, she brought much spirituality to CBI by davening on Shabbat, Festivals and High Holy Days and by teaching lay people to daven, learn trope and sing Jewish music. She officiated at the B'nai Mitzvah ceremonies of over 600 students and participated in countless life-cycle events such as baby namings, weddings, funerals and Shiva Minyanim and spent hours visiting and singing to congregants at their bedsides, at home and in the hospital.

A 1987 graduate of the Cantors Institute/Seminary College of Jewish Music (now known as the H.L. Miller Cantorial School) at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, she was one of the first two women to receive the Diploma of Hazzan from the Seminary. She was also among the first group of women to gain membership into the Cantors Assembly, the professional organization of Conservative Cantors, in May 1991. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where she obtained a B.A. in French and Spanish and an M.S. in Secondary Education, Cantor Barugel  lived in Madrid and Paris and entertained audiences in France, Italy, Mexico and Israel.

Cantor Barugel  made her debut as a soloist at the Cantors Assembly Convention in Milwaukee in June 1994 and is a member of the New Jersey Cantors Concert Ensemble. She has participated in KLEZKAMP, the Yiddish Folk Arts Festival sponsored by Living Traditions where she studied and performed Yiddish Art and Folk Song. She is also a specialist in the Judeo-Spanish song repertoire. Cantor has appeared on both radio and television and has been interviewed by numerous publications on the subject of women cantors.   A recording artist, her CD “From Darkness to Light” was released in April 2000 and her second CD “Congregation B’nai Israel Celebrates Shabbat” was released in March 2006.

Cantor Barugel lived in Atlantic Highlands up until July 2014 when she became a Cantor in California.  She is the proud mother of two sons, Michael Solomon Barugel and Avidor Moshe Barugel.