Senior Rabbi

Temple Aliyah is a thriving, mid-sized synagogue, founded in 1964 by a small group of families committed to establishing a Conservative Jewish presence in Needham. Our community, then and now, is geared toward families and individuals who value a warm, egalitarian community dedicated to Jewish learning, ritual practice, and social action. Then as now, congregants demonstrate a deep commitment to Conservative Jewish life, even as we do not subscribe to a singular expectation of Jewish practice. Over the decades, we have grown significantly to about 400 member families. Our membership is demographically diverse; we have been successful in attracting young families and retaining our empty nesters. In 2014, we established our own preschool, Gan Aliyah, in order to draw more young families into our ranks, and we have seen an uptick in young family membership since that time. Temple Aliyah is a vibrant spiritual center, a space for Jewish learning and ritual practice, community engagement, and even artistic and musical expression. Congregants performed full-length musicals, attended themed Shabbaton weekends and retreats, participated in a year-long project to write a Torah, and much more. We continue to value Temple Aliyah as a place for religious and community engagement and growth. Today, our demographically diverse congregation remains strong and connected. We have deep roots that ground us with founding members still a recognized group. As our demographics shift, we are also looking toward the future for ways to remain vital and relevant to our members. We are eager to form an effective partnership with a new rabbi in order to accomplish our goals, meet our challenges, and preserve our core principles and values. We are committed to a liberal, egalitarian and inclusive Judaism within the framework of the Conservative movement. Our congregants are looking to embrace new and creative opportunities for community building and expect our next rabbi to build a strong partnership with our lay leaders. We see as a priority outreach to and engagement with families with young and school-age children. We understand that the relationships formed between clergy and these families are essential for the future health of our congregation (not to mention these families’ own connections to Jewish life). Beyond these more strategic and forward-looking priorities, congregants expect our next rabbi to provide compassionate pastoral care and to partner with our members and our cantor in developing engaging Shabbat/holiday services that appeal broadly to a congregation that encompasses a range of religious observance. In short, our new rabbi should strive to enhance what is already a nurturing community with a long-standing culture of shalom bayit. S/he should partner with our strong and dedicated lay leadership to develop a vision for our future with an emphasis on the needs of younger families, as well as build solid relationships with our entire community and beyond. We would like our new rabbi to help our congregation remain vibrant and interconnected (across the generations, between newer members and lifelong congregants, families, individual members, etc.) so that Temple Aliyah continues to be a spiritual home for all congregants. In doing so, our rabbi should be able to engage collaboratively with our volunteers and lay leaders who play a critical role in most aspects of synagogue operations and programming. We will look to the new rabbi to bring new and creative ideas while celebrating and building upon Temple Aliyah’s traditions around Shabbat and holiday services, education, programming, and socializing/schmoozing. We expect our rabbi to: Partner with our synagogue leadership in envisioning and developing our policies, programming, and practices, and challenge us to think strategically about our current and longer-term growth and development, Serve as the mara d’atra in issues that come before the board that relate to Jewish practice and halakhah, Play the role of key advisor to our lay leadership, attending all Board and Executive meetings and participating in discussions, as appropriate, Meet regularly with the synagogue president and, as needed, with members of the Board and committee chairs & Be an active and core partner with the Ritual Committee and active Hesed Committee, which support elements of pastoral care, the school committees (Mercaz Aliyah and Gan Aliyah) and with other committees, as necessary. Because of the relatively high cost of housing, we are able to offer the rabbi either first or second mortgage financing which may include payments of principal and interest, interest only and/or shared appreciation in lieu of the payment of interest. In the rabbi’s first renewal, we will consider a declining synagogue share of the appreciation in order to enable the rabbi to build equity in a home during his or her tenure at Temple Aliyah. Rental apartments are available in Needham, though not generally within walking distance of the synagogue. Some home rentals are available from time to time, possibly within walking distance. Total Compensation with benefits: $180,000.00-$200,000.00 (Base salary: $150,000.00-$165,000.00). Search Committee Chair: David Farbman (617) 594-3847, e-mail [email protected]. Website www.templealiyah.com. 

(3/1/23)