Senior Rabbi Search Updates

Fellow Congregants,

We have begun to receive applicants! It’s an exciting time in our search, when we begin to see the remarkable rabbis who lead our movement. As a reminder, the CCAR (the Reform movement rabbinic organization) requires us to keep the names of applicants confidential; the Jewish world is small, and we don’t want to create friction for our applicants and their current communities.

Since our last update on October 19, we’ve done a lot to prepare for this stage:

• Engaged the Board, Past Presidents, and Search Advisory Group in several in-person meetings, which brings a breadth of perspectives to the search that is unique at this stage.
• Identified a list of leading rabbis who interest us; we will research and reach out to them proactively, through our partners in the CCAR.
• Built a process to handle incoming applicants, which includes a conversation, online research, and a series of virtual interviews, leading to references and in-person meetings for top candidates.

November will be busy!

Want to talk informally about the search? You can always send comments or questions to search@betham.org. Our next update will be November 16.

L'Shalom,

Deb Radin, Ben Lloyd and Loree Farrar
Senior Rabbi Search Co-chairs