Overview
Shaare Torah, a Conservative synagogue in Gaithersburg, MD, seeks an interim rabbi for one year to provide guidance and a steady hand throughout our upcoming rabbi search.
About Shaare Torah
Shaare Torah aims to be an innovative, inclusive, transformative Jewish space. We recognize that each congregant comes to Shaare Torah for a variety of reasons, and we look to ensure these are all equally respected. Our congregation was founded to fill the needs of a progressive Jewish community in Montgomery County, Maryland. Our synagogue is based in a residential community (Kentlands/Lakelands), allowing for a true sense that we are not only our own synagogue but part of the larger neighborhood.
Prior to the pandemic and since we have fully reopened, we have been in a state of growth and renewed energy and engagement. We are a community in transition, as our Founding Rabbi of 20+ years departed the pulpit about five years ago to become CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA) and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). Our current rabbis (married to each other) will leave the region after their 3-year contract to attend to family needs.
Throughout the rabbinical transitions and COVID challenges, Shaare Torah has grown, both in membership and community impact. We look forward to meeting this rabbi search challenge with energy and commitment, identifying new rabbinic leadership, and continuing our progress toward meeting the needs of our community. This rabbi search presents our community with the chance to reflect on where we have been and where we want to go in our next 20+ years.
Our vision for our interim rabbi
Shaare Torah has an engaged membership and dedicated leadership, a dynamic Early Childhood Center (ECC), and an innovative religious school. Many synagogue members lead our creative programs and others can lead our Shabbat and chagim services. We hope that our interim rabbi will help guide our volunteer leaders as we continue to build our leadership bench, to grow our membership, and to meet the needs of our community. Our interim rabbi will help us prioritize our needs and provide wisdom throughout our permanent rabbi search.
In addition to supporting our leadership through the rabbinic transition, our interim rabbi will support our upcoming B’nai and gil mitzvah students, provide pastoral care for those in mourning or with health problems or in need of counseling, and attend life-cycle events.
Our community has active adult education and adult chavurah programming and events. Our interim rabbi will support these programs by helping to plan and execute the programs our volunteers run.
The interim rabbi will attend periodic staff meetings and monthly board meetings at the discretion of the president.
Additional Information
Although we are not restricting our search to members of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the interim rabbi will be expected to comport themselves in accordance with the laws and traditions of Conservative/Masorti Judaism as observed by our community.
Shaare Torah is a vibrant, open-hearted, joyful and multi-generational synagogue community where you are welcome as you are. We learn, pray, play, pursue justice and find inspiration as we grow Jewishly together. At Shaare Torah, we strive to be a Jewish community of belonging, equity and inclusion, where we care for one another, our neighbors, Israel and our world. Rooted in tradition, we create Jewish experiences that spark wonder, stretch spirits and deepen relationships.
Although we are not restricting our search to members of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the interim rabbi will be expected to comport themselves in accordance with the laws and traditions of Conservative/Masorti Judaism as observed by our community.
We are seeking a candidate who can begin on July 1, 2024.
A resume, cover letter, and request for more information may be sent to Jennifer Schnur and David Freiman, Search Committee Co-Chairs, at interimteam@shaaretorah.org
About Shaare Torah
“Let your soul, in its fullness, give praise!” – Psalms 150
We believe each human being is created in the image of the Divine. Our Shaare Torah community is home to Jews and family members of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. We celebrate community members of all gender identities and sexual orientations. Our households include individuals, single-parent families, interfaith/multi-heritage families, and blended families. We embrace our diversity of physical and cognitive abilities, of life experience, of Jewish practice, of age, and economic backgrounds. We welcome you here as you are, in your fullness!
“You should love the stranger,” the Torah instructs us, “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This mitzvah (commandment) appears more than any other in our Scripture. Each one of us has had the experience of being a “stranger” in a group or community, of feeling vulnerable or excluded. Our Jewish tradition calls on us to have empathy for those who are marginalized wherever we are and to build communities of care and belonging. This is challenging and vital work and we are always striving to improve, to become the most inclusive, equitable, accessible, and welcoming community we can be. We value your unique voice, your feedback, and your participation as we build together!
Shaare Torah is more than a place of worship.
More than religious services.
More than baby namings or b’nai mitzvah or weddings or funerals.
More than social programming for our different generations.
More than prayer and education and service.
More than our smiles. More than our tears.
Shaare Torah is more than a synagogue. We’re a community.
Shaare Torah is a welcoming, vibrant Conservative synagogue community (Kehillah), dedicated to the ideals of Jewish tradition (Masoret), and to acts of kindness (Hesed).
We are a transformative Jewish community that connects every participant to each other, the Jewish people, Jewish tradition, humanity, and G-d.
Our congregation was founded by a small group of families in the Quince Orchard area, who began meeting in local schools and each other’s homes in the fall of 1995. Today, our congregation includes more than 300 member households, as well as hundreds of other individuals and families living throughout Montgomery County Maryland, including Gaithersburg, as well as Bethesda and Rockville, Potomac and North Potomac, Germantown and Clarksburg.