Overview
Shir Chadash is an active, vibrant, multi-generational congregation in Metairie, Louisiana, in the Greater New Orleans area. We seek a pulpit rabbi to lead our congregation.
About Shir Chadash
Shir Chadash is proud to be the only Conservative congregation and the only traditional, egalitarian service in the greater New Orleans area. Our congregation has approximately 250 member units, including regular members, associate members, and non-resident members.
Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation is a warm, inclusive, egalitarian synagogue that honors tradition while embracing modernity. We are a Kehillah Kedoshah (sacred community) where all are welcome to join in praying, learning and celebrating together. Collectively, our voices, from young to old, form a Shir Chadash (a new song) through which each member is inspired and enriched for the enhancement of our congregation, Greater New Orleans, and K’lal Yisrael (the Jewish people).
Shir Chadash has a strong tradition of lay-led services with vibrant attendance on Shabbat mornings, growing attendance at our in-person and online Kabbalat Shabbat services, and spirited and engaging educational programs for children, teens, and adults. During the height of the pandemic, we moved largely to online offerings to keep our community safe. Now, as we continue our transition back to in-person offerings, we seek rabbinical leadership to renew in-person participation at Shabbat and other services.
We are a highly engaged congregation with over-representation of our members at community events and on local organization boards. Located in greater New Orleans, Shir Chadash is part of a metropolitan area that boasts a uniquely interconnected Jewish community, with strong collaboration between rabbis across congregational and denominational lines, and with many families enjoying connections to (and memberships with) multiple area congregations.
Shir Chadash is a multi-generational congregation, with several families who currently have three generations in active attendance, and many friendships that exist across age divides. We are an inclusive community, serving as home to numerous Jews by choice, Jews of color, LGBTQ Jews, and members of interfaith families. Our Board also reflects this diversity.
Shir Chadash seeks a dynamic pulpit rabbi who will provide a personal touch to the significant events in the lives of our congregation’s members and impart knowledge and wisdom from the bimah and in other educational settings. Our ideal rabbi serves as an ambassador to the local Jewish community and the New Orleans community at-large, attracts new members and maintains a kehilla that is welcoming to Jews diverse in political orientation, sexual and gender identity, racial background, and Jewish knowledge and experience.
We seek a Rabbi with:
- The ability to conduct engaging Shabbat and holiday services;
- An interest in supporting lay-led services, and a willingness to teach congregants across the age spectrum to lead services;
- The ability to think strategically about the challenges and opportunities the synagogue may face, and to work with lay leaders to develop a strategic vision for the shul;
- Leadership skills to address those challenges collaboratively with lay leadership;
- Ability to meet the needs of different demographics within our community;
- Skill to communicate clearly and compellingly, both from the bimah and in person;
- Ability to speak diplomatically and respectfully in personal communications;
- Ability to attract new faces into the community and work collaboratively with existing members to foster ongoing relationships;
- Ability to support and strengthen our religious school; in particular a willingness to take a significant role, alongside the Director of Education and Programming, in choosing and implementing a curriculum that will meets the needs of our growing student population;
- Ability to develop and deliver high-quality experiences, classes and programming that span the age range from youth to adult;
- Skill and sensitivity to help us work through the disruption associated with the transition in rabbinic leadership.
Benefits and use of the parsonage
benjamin.horwitz@gmail.com
About Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation
About Shir Chadash
Shir Chadash is proud to be the only Conservative congregation and the only traditional, egalitarian service in the greater New Orleans area. Our congregation has approximately 250 member units, including regular members, associate members, and non-resident members.
Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation is a warm, inclusive, egalitarian synagogue that honors tradition while embracing modernity. We are a Kehillah Kedoshah (sacred community) where all are welcome to join in praying, learning and celebrating together. Collectively, our voices, from young to old, form a Shir Chadash (a new song) through which each member is inspired and enriched for the enhancement of our congregation, Greater New Orleans, and K’lal Yisrael (the Jewish people).
Shir Chadash has a strong tradition of lay-led services with vibrant attendance on Shabbat mornings, growing attendance at our in-person and online Kabbalat Shabbat services, and spirited and engaging educational programs for children, teens, and adults. During the height of the pandemic, we moved largely to online offerings to keep our community safe. Now, as we continue our transition back to in-person offerings, we seek rabbinical leadership to renew in-person participation at Shabbat and other services.
We are a highly engaged congregation with over-representation of our members at community events and on local organization boards. Located in greater New Orleans, Shir Chadash is part of a metropolitan area that boasts a uniquely interconnected Jewish community, with strong collaboration between rabbis across congregational and denominational lines, and with many families enjoying connections to (and memberships with) multiple area congregations.
Shir Chadash is a multi-generational congregation, with several families who currently have three generations in active attendance, and many friendships that exist across age divides. We are an inclusive community, serving as home to numerous Jews by choice, Jews of color, LGBTQ Jews, and members of interfaith families. Our Board also reflects this diversity.