Dena Feingold would have preferred no one made a big deal about the day.

But when you’re Wisconsin’s first female rabbi and you’ve spent 25 years at the same synagogue, that might have been a bit of wishful thinking.

And Sunday afternoon at the Beth Hillel Temple, congregation members, community leaders and political heavyweights wouldn’t have it any other way as they helped Rabbi Feingold celebrate her anniversary in Kenosha.

“Well, I wanted it low key, but.... ” she said with a blush, while gesturing at the crowd of nearly 100 people in the basement of the temple, where news clippings and tons of photographs filled the room.

When she first arrived in the 1980s, it wasn’t Feingold’s first visit to Kenosha.

There weren’t any synagogues in Janesville where she grew up, and she and others would come to Kenosha to meet other children in a Jewish youth group.

Since coming back as the rabbi, she never envisioned she’d still be here so many years later.

“I don’t know if I was thinking long-term when I came here, but it’s really wonderful,” she said. “I really enjoy working in the interfaith community, and I think the best memories are being here for those really important and wonderful events in everyone’s lives.”

Feingold was lauded for being a stalwart community supporter who embraced working with other faiths.

The Rev. Georgette Wonders from the nearby Bradford Unitarian Universalist Church said Feingold has been the longest-serving member on a coalition of Kenosha County clergy.

“I’m the grandmother,” Feingold joked.

Wonders said Feingold’s time in Kenosha has been highlighted by “an unswerving devotion to interfaith dialogue and understanding one another.”

Joe Mangi, superintendent of the Kenosha Unified School District, reminded the crowd of a time 13 years ago when the district and teachers union was at an impasse and 400 students from Tremper High School walked out of class in protest.

With no end to the bitter divide in sight, it ended, he said, when Feingold spoke at a School Board meeting and reminded everyone that it was about the children and nothing else.

“And the contract was settled the next day, because of her,” Mangi said. “She reminded all of us that the kids came first.”

He thanked her for her years as a reading tutor at Lincoln and Durkee elementary schools as well as Brass Community School, and her efforts in encouraging others in her synagogue to participate in the student mentor program.

A parade of politicians also heralded her efforts.

“After 18 months I feel beat up and battered, so I can only imagine what 25 years is like, but you wear it a lot better than I do,” said Mayor Keith Bosman.

County Executive Jim Kreuser said that Feingold was always a supportive friend throughout his political career. He returned the favor by making a proclamation that Sunday was Rabbi Dena Feingold Day in Kenosha.

Other politicians sent well wishes by letter, including Sen. Herb Kohl, while another senator sat quietly and didn’t make any public comments.

That would be Sen. Russ Feingold, Dena’s brother, who showed up as a surprise.

“Having the presence of my brother here, I had no idea, and I’m just thrilled,” Dena Feingold said. “He’s known me the longest, and he could tell you some stories very different from what is being told today.”

Russ Feingold said he wasn’t there as a politician.

“Everyone in the family is just so proud of Dena,” he said. “Today, I’m not a public official. I’m just a proud, big brother.”