BANGOR – Darah Lerner’s route toward the rabbinate began when she decided to read the Bible in Hebrew.

The only problem was, she couldn’t read modern Hebrew, let alone the ancient Hebrew of the Old Testament.

“So I did a very Jewish thing,” said the new rabbi at Congregation Beth El. “I found myself a teacher and studied biblical Hebrew. After a time of study and engaging the text and the community I’d joined, my rabbi suggested that I might want to consider becoming a rabbi. It was nothing I’d ever considered before.”

Lerner, 45, arrived in Bangor this summer to lead the city’s 25-year-old Reform congregation.

She succeeded Rabbi Laurence Milder, 48, who moved to Westborough, Mass., to lead a larger congregation after 11 years at Beth El.

Beth El’s search committee this spring reviewed nine applications, conducted phone interviews with half a dozen applicants and brought three, including Lerner, to Bangor for interviews and to lead services, Dr. Noah Nesin, co-chair of the search committee, said recently.

“During her visit here, people made a nice connection with her intellectually and emotionally,” Nesin said. “We got good feedback from the congregation and the students in our religious classes.

“She learned a lot about the area and the congregation before her interview,” he said. “That impressed everybody.”

The Millinocket physician added that Lerner was a good fit for the congregation because of “our shared values.”

Those values include a commitment to:

. Progressive Judaism.

. Looking with an open mind at who a progressive Jew is going to be in the 21st century.

. Lifelong learning.

. An openness to the traditions and spirit of the Beth El community.

In a recent interview at her office in the synagogue, Lerner said one of the things that drew her to the congregation was its sense of humor. That was apparent in the way it prepared its profile for potential candidates.

“The congregation included three maps,” she said. “One showed where the synagogue is in Bangor. The second showed where Bangor is in the state of Maine. The third showed where Bangor is in relation to Israel. Beth El, the map showed, is the closest Reform congregation in America to Israel. I liked that.”

Lerner spent her first year of rabbinical school in Israel. She arrived in Jerusalem in the summer of 2001.

“I’d never been to Israel before,” she said. “The summer of ’01 was an incredibly exciting time to be there. We were sure peace was at hand, then came September. On September 11, the bottom dropped out and the rest of the year was considerably more challenging.”

Lerner was born in Florida but grew up in San Bernardino, Calif. She earned her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California-Berkeley in 1982.

She graduated from Hebrew Union College and was ordained earlier this year.

For nearly a decade, Lerner worked in the San Francisco Bay area for a chain of video stores before she and her partner moved to Albuquerque, N.M., seeking a less stressful lifestyle. It was there that she joined Congregation Albert, learned to read Hebrew and decided to become a rabbi.

Lerner has a diverse background, in retail, business, religious schools and as a hospital chaplain. She believes that is a good match for the diverse and growing Beth El congregation.

The region’s only Reform synagogue includes families with some Jewish and non-Jewish members, traditional and nontraditional families, and spiritual seekers interested in learning more about the Hebrew tradition.

“Our greatest opportunity is also our greatest challenges,” she said of being an American Jew. “How open American society is for Jews now is just incredible. Maintaining that identity and connection in a community that is a minority is the challenge.”