55 Martha Road
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617.523.0453
Fax: 617.723.2863
www.bostonsynagogue.org
Our Spiritual Leaders
As a small community synagogue, The Boston Synagogue does not have a full-time rabbi. On many weeks it is lay-led.
But we do have a fabulous cadre of 'regular' world-class talent who are with us on a rotating basis. As befits our post-denominational focus, they represent a broad spectrum of Jewish practice. They also are available for weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and other life cycle events.
This coming year, we also will be welcoming Eric Cohen, a rabbinical student from Hebrew College.
Compared to most ordinary shuls, where the services take on a somewhat predictable sameness, each of our rabbis brings his/her own unique style, making each week consistent but refreshingly different! It’s a dynamic ensemble approach.
Rabbi-In-Residence and Rabbinic Support For Life Cycle Events
Our Rabbinical Support (in alphabetical order)
Rabbi Ben Lanckton (Conservative):Rabbi-In-Residence
Rabbi Lanckton received his BA in Theater Studies and Philosophy from Yale College in 1990 and his rabbinic ordination, with a major in Talmud, from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1996. He served at two Jewish Community Centers and a Hillel Center before joining the Chaplaincy at Massachusetts General Hospital and beginning his time teaching at the Boston Synagogue. He enjoys nurturing creative connections in the Jewish com munity and in the larger community. He lives with his family in Brookline
Rabbi Lanckton has performed weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs and welcoming ceremonies, and counseled close to one thousand patients. He is available for life-cycle events and short-term spiritual counseling, as well as religious questions of any nature, mundane or profound (or both). He can be contacted through the synagogue for his hours of availability.
Please note: it is the intent of Rabbi Lanckton through Boston Synagogue to provide these services in the most affordable way. Most life cycle events and some counseling arrangements will include a fee structure. The payment for any services provided will be paid through the synagogue. Any need for scholarship will be kept confidential; no one will be denied Rabbi Lanckton's services for lack of financial resources.
We welcome our new Rabbinic Intern, George 'Getzel' Davis
Getzel Davis is a practitioner, teacher and guide in the dance of being Jewish in today’s dynamic world. A native of New York City, Getzel Davis received a BA at Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies with minors in Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. Since graduating, he worked as an educator at the Teva Learning Center, PANIM Summer Jam, Temple Israel of Boston, and Jewish Funds for Justice. This past summer Getzel worked as the spiritual director at Eden Village Summer camp.
Presently, Getzel is in his fourth year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Boston. There he studies ancient and more modern Jewish wisdom texts and explores their application to the needs of Jews today. He spent the past year in Israel, where he studied at various yeshivot (schools of Jewish texts) ranging from ultra-orthodox to devotedly anti-organized-religion. Getzel loves encountering new ideas and is constantly searching for Truth.
When not learning or teaching about Judaism, Getzel loves to travel, camp, farm and swing dance.
Recently, Getzel received considerable public acclaim for his dvar torah at the Occupy Wall Street Kol Nidre service.
Getzel will be at Boston Synagogue for two or three shabbatot every month and is very excited to meet you. Please come by and introduce yourself!
Rabbi Al Axelrad (Liberal)
Rabbi Al S. Axelrad is the Chair of the Center for Spiritual Life and Adjunct Professor of Religion at Emerson College. 'Rabbi Al” has had an outstanding 34-year career as Brandeis University Chaplain and Hillel Director. The author of three books, Rabbi Al has long been recognized for his progressive social action and liturgical renewal.
Dr. David Fishman (Conservative)
David is an ‘old friend’ of The Boston Synagogue (from his student days at Harvard), who is now Professor of Jewish History at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, teaching courses in modern Jewish history. Dr. Fishman also serves as Director of Project Judaica, a Jewish Studies program based in Moscow that is sponsored jointly by JTS, YIVO, and the Russian State University for the Humanities.
Dr. Fishman travels to Moscow and Vilnius (Lithuania) frequently on behalf of Project Judaica. He has recently completed two surveys based on research completed on location: a Jewish archival survey in Belarus (a project spanning eight years) in cooperation with the Belarus State Archival Administration; and a survey of Jewish collections of the "Special Archive" in Moscow. Dr. Fishman is also an Adjunct Professor at Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.
Dr. Fishman is the author of numerous books and articles on the history and culture of East European Jewry. His books include Russia's First Modern Jews, published by New York University Press, and Embers Plucked from the Fire: the Rescue of Jewish Cultural Treasures in Vilna, published by YIVO. Dr. Fishman is the co-editor (with Burton Visotzky) of From Mesopotamia to Modernity: Ten Introductions to Jewish History and Literature (Westview Press, 1999), which recently appeared in a revised Russian edition called Ot Abrama do sovremenosti (Russian State University Press, 2002). His book Dimension of Yiddish Culture is forthcoming from Syracuse University Press. Dr. Fishman serves as Editor of YIVO-Bletter, YIVO's Yiddish-language scholarly journal.
A native New Yorker, David Fishman received his bachelor's degree from Yeshiva University and his master's degree and doctorate from Harvard. He has taught at Brandeis University and Russian State University in Moscow, and was a fellow at the Hebrew University's Institute for Advanced Studies.
David leads services at The Boston Synagogue for the High Holidays. He also leads the synagogue’s first night Passover Seder and services during the first part of the holiday. He is usually with the synagogue for either Succot or Shavuot.
Rabbi Ebn Leader (Trans-denominational)
Reb Ebn brings a unique spiritual style to the worship and holiday celebratory experience. He was born in California and moved to Israel as a youngster. He has a B.A. from Hebrew University and an M.A. from Brandeis University, where he studied under the direction of Dr. Arthur Green. He currently is co-director of the Beit Midrash program at Hebrew College’s new Rabbinical School.
Ebn is a co-contributor (along with Or Rose) to the recently published book, “God in All Moments: Spiritual and Practical Wisdom from the Hasidic Masters (Jewish Lights, 2003).
Check out these other links about Ebn:
YOM KIPPUR GROUPIES
“... We love it. While the minyan is always a blast, it especially rocks on the
High Holidays when Ebn Leader, son of founder Zelig, leads the services. ... “
www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1518 - 21k - Cached - Similar pages
THE DARKNESS OF WINTER ENVIRONMENTAL REFLECTIONS ON HANUKAH By Ebn ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
It has often been noted that the Jewish holidays function within a dual cycle of ...
www.coejl.org/Hanukkah/documents/Ebn-Hanukah.pdf - Similar pages
COEJL HANUKKAH: THE DARKNESS OF WINTER: ENVIRONMENTAL REFLECTIONS ...
The Darkness of Winter: Environmental reflections on Hanukah. By Ebn
Leader, Hebrew College. It has often been noted that the Jewish ...
www.coejl.org/Hanukkah/documents/ebn.shtml - 23k - Cached -
Rabbi Daniel Lehmann (Post-Modern Orthodox)
Rabbi Daniel Lehmann is the new President of Hebrew College in Newton, MA, one of the leading intitutions of Jewish learning in the United States.Rabbi Lehmann also is founding Headmaster Emeritus of the Gann Academy–The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston. He has rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University and is a PhD candidate at the Steinhardt School for Education at NYU in Education and Jewish Studies. In 2001 Rabbi Lehmann received the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. He has taught for the Wexner Heritage Foundation, CLAL, and the Hartman Institute. Recently he became the founding executive director of BIMA -- a three week summer camp program in the Berkshires devoted to music and cultural expression.
Noah Weingarten: Lay Ritual Leader
A couple from New York visiting their son in Boston stopped by the shul some years ago for one of our lay-led Shabbats, and saw a young man conducting Saturday morning Shaharit services. That same young man then read the entire Torah portion for the week. They were amazed at something they had never seen before in any shul.
The young man is Noah Weingarten, who since his bar mitzvah in 2002 has regularly been leading services and reading Torah on Shabbat and holidays.
Noah is a graduate of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and Gann Academy/New Jewish High School in Waltham (where Rabbi Lehmann is founding headmaster emeritus).
Noah is currently attending the Joint Program at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, but will be back with us for the High Holidays and periodically thereafter.
See recent articles featuring Noah in local papers
Kelly Burnett
Kelly is our administrator, and is doing an outstanding job handling the varied needs of our congregation.
Give her a call and say hello!
Our Officers/Board of Directors
In a small congregation, everyone is important. We are blessed to have the support of a core group of people who care about the shul and about each other. When we get together, it’s more like getting together with friends.
| Chairperson of the Board | Susan Schreiner Weingarten |
| Executive Committee | Bette Siegel, Jeff Steinfeld, Michael Weingarten |
| Vice President | Bette Siegel |
| Secretary | Jeff Steinfeld |
| Treasurer | Michael Weingarten |
Board Members |
Ruth Aaron, Leslie Blachman, Stephanie Goldberg, David Kreisler, Shlomo Pinkas, Marshall Schribman, Gail Semigran, Marc Siegel, Ruth Raphael, Howard Speicher, Heather Stein |
| Board Member Emerita | Ruth Fein |