Overview

Between half- and three-quarter time, year-round.

We are are a small Reform congregation in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. We are seeking to transition from our first rabbi, who served us by traveling in from out of state, to a rabbi who can be present and active in our community year-round. We need someone to provide a welcoming, consistent presence at least 48 weekends/year, with some presence during the week.

We expect our rabbi to create and maintain an atmosphere that is welcoming, inclusive, and attractive to members from a wide range of Jewish beliefs and backgrounds.

Our rabbi has traditionally maintained excellent relationships with the interfaith community.

The position encompasses traditional rabbinic duties for a small congregation, such as officiating at Shabbat and other Jewish holidays, including High Holy Days.  It involves teaching Hebrew and religious classes, conversion/b’nei mitzvah preparation classes, lunch & learn sessions, and officiating at life events of various kinds, including bar and bat mitzvahs.

Our rabbi should provide spiritual guidance to those in need.  It is important for our rabbi to connect, on a personal level, with congregants of all ages.

We enjoy music and song in our services.

Digital skills are valued, as services are presently being offered solely on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to be live-streamed from the Temple when the pandemic ends.

 

What we have to offer:

  • Located in Boone, NC – listed among the Top 25 Coolest Towns in America
  • Dynamic, supportive lay leadership team:
    • Active, working board of trustees
    • Choir
    • Experienced, full-time administrator
  • Close-knit, supportive multi-faith clergy council
  • Boone is home to Appalachian State University with approximately 20,000 students.  Our Temple maintains a close relationship with the University in the following ways:
    • Active Hillel and AEPi chapters
    • Partnering with the university’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies (CJHPS)
    • Cultural events, such as world class music, theater, dance and the fine and performing arts
  • Watauga County has an excellent K-12 school system
  • Hikers’ paradise, skiing, snowboarding, river rafting and other outdoor activities
  • Long- established congregation going back several decades
  • Beautiful new and newly expanded Temple with exquisite stained-glass windows
  • Friendly, educated congregation

Tagged as: bar/bat mitzvah, Hillel, mentoring, multi-faith, zoom

Why you need a rabbi: In addition to your routine responsibilities with our Temple, you will have the opportunity to perform weddings for a wide range of Jewish and mixed-faith couples who come to this area solely to get married at one of the many beautiful local wedding venues.
Timing Expectations: Between half- and three-quarter time, year-round. We are seeking to transition from our first rabbi, who served us by traveling in from out of state, to a rabbi who can be present and active in our community year-round. We need someone to provide a welcoming, consistent presence at least 48 weekends/year, with some presence during the week.
Work Remotely: no
Qualifications:

The successful candidate will offer:

  • Flair for bringing energy to a service through music and song
  • Uplifting, spiritual presence in services and one-on-one interactions
  • Excellent pastoral care
  • Comfort in leading lively, interactive services and classes both in person and on Zoom
  • Solid understanding of Jewish language, doctrine and practice, with the ability to use Torah and Talmud as a guide to managing everyday challenges and dilemmas
  • Ease in connecting on a personal level with congregants of all ages
  • Social media savvy a plus
Position Start Date: July 1, 2021
Benefits:

Paid vacation
Pension
Gym membership w/pool

Salary Range: $50,000 - $65,000
Send resumes and cover letter to:

Interested candidates are invited to submit a resume/CV in .pdf or .docx format to Kurt Love, President of Temple of the High Country at templeofthehighcountry@gmail.com. If available, please also forward video clips of a Shabbat or other service at which you officiated.

About Temple of the High Country

ToHC is a small, URJ-affiliated synagogue nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina. As the only synagogue in fourteen counties, we provide a Jewish spiritual home for those from Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and non-observant backgrounds; for political progressives and conservatives; for traditional Jews, those in interfaith relationships, Jewish-adjacent, and those seeking conversion. Our typical demographic shifts seasonally: in the summer, largely retirees for whom we are their second synagogue; in the winter, largely students at the local university.

The Boone Jewish Community has congregated for over four decades, but the Temple was established to serve it, and the outlying Jewish populations, in 2012. The Temple hired its first rabbi on a quarter-time, visiting basis in 2012, joined the URJ in 2015, and participated in its first URJ events in 2019.