Rabbi Jonathan has been Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth El since July 2011. Before coming to Charlotte, he served as the solo clergy at Temple Bat Yam, a Reform synagogue in South Lake Tahoe, for eight years. Prior to that, he worked with Hillel for four years in Tucson, Arizona, and Cleveland, Ohio. Temple Beth El members describe Rabbi Jonathan as learned, personable, outgoing, funny and a great fit for our congregation.
Rabbi Jonathan explores Judaism using ancient and contemporary lenses of interpretation, valuing mystical and historical insights, along with rationalist and modernist perspectives. He likes to say that anything that we love to do can be Jewish, whether that's going to the movies, eating sushi, or going on a run.
While in Charlotte, Rabbi Jonathan has been working on running more regularly, reading a book a week (from sci-fi to contemporary theology), and spending significant moments with his wife Ginny and five-year-old son Jude.
Ginny, is a ketubah artist and Jude begins kindergarten in Fall 2012.
Rabbi Jonathan grew up as a Reform Jew at Central Synagogue in Manhattan and was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. He and Ginny met as undergrads at Middlebury College in Vermont. Rabbi Jonathan has been a longtime member of both the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
