Rabbi Josef Langer San Francisco biker

Rabbi Josef Langer San Francisco biker San Francisco's streets and highways are some of the most congested in North America. So it's not uncommon to beat the traffic with a motorbike, if you've got steady nerves. And here in the city with a reputation for anything goes, an Orthodox Rabbi is CERTAINLY on the go.... He's Rabbi Josef Langer. And though a Chabad-Lubavitch, his mode of transportation is anything but orthodox. Then there's the San Francisco cable car he's converted into a bus. Jump on and say a prayer. Maybe his Rabbi Josef Langer bobble head doll will inspire. But there's also a serious side...an effort to overturn stereotypes about his faith. Rabbi Josef Langer: "Everybody thinks they're a rabbi (laughs) and so it becomes a personalized thing. So we're misunderstood on the personal level/ it hinders us to do our job in educated and exposing the Jewish community to their heritage." Rabbi Langer was, amazingly enough, also the first rabbi to make the lighting of the Menorah into a public event, back in 1975 and the trend has spread across the world since then. Of course, some Jews find the Chabad-Lubavitch movement controversial on matters of faith and politics, but he has a strong focus on thinking outside of the box.... Rabbi Josef Langer: "Most rabbis are dedicated to their box, the synagogue. You pay dues and they serve those people/ However...the masses of people are out in the street/ Our responsibility is not to convert people to Judaism, but to reveal to the world what Torah has to offer." Sharon Cohen is on a sightseeing tour of the city and speaks with Rabbi Langer about the challenges of maintaining a Jewish identity in her native Sweden. Swedish tourist Sharon Cohen: "I'm not connected very much to Judaism, so when I get to Stockholm after many years, Chabad was the only one who like said..welcome, we're not gonna judge you." Rabbi Langer grew up in a secular home and was originally a merchant marine before being drawn back towards his Jewish heritage, with exposure to Hasidic rabbis at the University of California in Los Angeles and in Brooklyn, New York, with its very own brand of intense street culture. Rabbi Josef Langer: "And that's really what a Chabadnic is. It's to light up the streets with the wellsprings of Judaism." Rabbi Langer's goal is to expose the more liberal leaning Jews of Northern California to the thought and faith of a conservative. And while many here may shy away from his more orthodox brand of Judaism, he's winning many people over with his truly unorthodox ways. Quinn Bowman, JN1, San Francisco