Welcome! And thank you for your interest in our rabbi search. Around the beginning of 2011, Congregation B'nai Shalom embarked upon a search for a new Senior Rabbi. Such a major transition in any organization is marked by both periods of challenges, as well as exciting new opportunities. It is a journey we as a community are taking together.

Entrusted with guiding us through this journey is the Rabbi Search Committee, a group of 23 congregants representing the wide diversity of our members and their families.

One of the earliest committee decisions was to commit to taking the time to reach out to the congregation, to solicit input, and to engage in conversations to understand what was needed and wanted. We then needed to come up to speed about how a a congregation hires a rabbi, and to create our own process for finding the right rabbi for our congregation. Realizing that we must not rush this process, a separate committee was formed to identify an Interim Senior Rabbi for the 2011-2012 year. (Rabbi contracts run from July 1st to June 30th.) This Interim Year Committee worked in partnership with the professional staff and lay leaders to address the needs of our congregation while we are in the search process for a senior rabbi. They created and implemented a plan to provide for the rabbinic, educational, musical and other duties until a senior rabbi can be installed.

To this end, the Interim Year Committee interviewed a number of candidates, and successfully completed their search with Rabbi Sharon Sobel who started with us on July 1, 2011.

In the meantime, the work of the Rabbi Search Committee was ongoing and still strongly continues at this point. Our intent is keep the B'nai Shalom community informed every step of the way, and we invite you to explore the web pages under the "Rabbi Transition" section for the latest news.

Also, we welcome your questions, comments and suggestions at either the addresses below, or via the "Contact Us" links on the right:

        rabbisearch@cbnaishalom.org

Thank you for supporting us in this sacred task!

Jeff Govendo
Heidi Swanick
Co-chairs, Rabbi Search Committee

Gordon Manning
Chair, Interim Year Committee