MUNSTER | For the first time in more than 32 years, Congregation Beth Israel welcomed a new spiritual leader.

Rabbi Benjamin Julius Kramer was installed Sunday during a ceremony at the synagogue with more than 100 congregation members, family and friends in attendance. His wife, Lori, and 16-month-old son, Zalman, looked on as Kramer's mentor, New York Rabbi Martin Cohen, performed the installation.

Susan Tepperman, congregation president, said Sunday was "an auspicious day" for many reasons.

"Rabbi Kramer, you follow a rich tradition of important and talented community leaders, all of whom have helped build and sustain our community for the past several generations," Tepperman said.

Kramer replaced retired Rabbi Raphael Ostrovsky, who was elected in 1976 to the pulpit of Beth Israel when the synagogue was in Hammond.

Coincidentally, a young, newly ordained Ostrovsky officiated at Cohen's bar mitzvah 43 years ago, said Cohen, of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn, N.Y.

"What goes around comes around," Cohen said during the ceremony. "Rabbi Kramer and I share a common vision of what it means to be a rabbi."

During his presentation, Cohen said rabbis must be both scholar and pastor.

"I charge you with leading this congregation to become the type of Jews they have always wanted to become," he said to Kramer.

"Never turn off your phone. Never turn away. Never turn off. Never turn down," Cohen advised Kramer. "Use your great intelligence and your God-given talents along with your good nature and affable personality."

Calling the bond between rabbi and the people "a marriage made in heaven," Cohen asked the congregation to "love Rabbi Kramer and watch over him for me."

After his installation, Kramer thanked Cohen, Tepperman, the search committee, the board of directors and Ostrovsky for their guidance and help.

"Behind every halfway decent rabbi is a woman, who is in all but title a greater rabbi than he could ever be," Kramer said to his wife. "All my successes, past and future, are due to you."

And to the congregation, he said, "You have treated us like family. The seeds of friendship and relationships we planted a year ago have begun to blossom."

The Kramers have been affiliated with Beth Israel for a year. Kramer told synagogue members that "the best days are not behind us. We can make this a Jewish community to rival any Jewish community in the country. We just need to seize the opportunity."

The new rabbi has brought "life back to this synagogue," Becky Handle, of Munster, said. "He's a wonderful teacher, inspiring all generations to learn."

Eugene Berger, 90, has been a synagogue member for more than 65 years.

"(Kramer is) a wonderful guy and a wonderful speaker. He's a mensch," Berger said.