Rabbi Rick Jacobs, URJ President, Coming to oak park temple
The president of the Union for Reform Judaism will join us Friday, November 21, for a congregational dinner and service honoring Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion’s 150th year as a kehillah kedosha, a holy community.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs will be our guest for an “Audacious Hospitality” Dinner, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the OPT Community Hall. He will be delivering an address during the Friday evening Shabbat service starting at 8 p.m. (See the form on the right to reserve a space at the free dinner.)
Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion is indeed privileged to have such a distinguished leader honor us on this auspicious occasion. Rabbi Jacobs, who is the only URJ president to have served as the spiritual leader of a congregation, has led our 1.5 million member movement since June 2012. More than 900 congregations throughout the United States and Canada are part of the URJ. He is only the fourth president in URJ’s history.
From the time of his nomination as URJ president, Rabbi Jacobs became one the most prominent leaders in Judaism. Newsweek Magazine and The Daily Beast placed him seventh on their 2011 list of America's 50 Most Influential Rabbis, describing him as “magnetic” and “known for prioritizing social justice ... and rethinking worship to engage the disaffected. ” He held the same position on the 2012 list, where he was described as “a charismatic speaker and...a staunch defender of Israel, ” according to the article. He moved up to sixth on the 2013 list. In 2011, the Jewish Daily Forward listed him third on its “Forward 50” list of the 50 most significant American Jews. And the Jerusalem Post listed him 26th on its 2012 list of the “50 most influential Jews in the world.”
An inspiring and dynamic speaker widely regarded as a creative change agent, Rabbi Jacobs was the spiritual leader at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale for 20 years before taking on the Reform movement’s leadership. There, he reshaped communal worship, transformed the congregation into a community of lifelong learners and strengthened the synagogue's commitment to vibrancy and inclusion. Under his leadership, his congregation completed a new "green" sanctuary, one of only a handful of Jewish houses of worship in the nation to carry this designation.
Before his tenure at WRT, Rabbi Jacobs served the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, where he founded and co-directed the first synagogue-based homeless shelter in New York City.
Dedicated to global social justice issues, Rabbi Jacobs was part of a delegation that assessed disaster response following Haiti's devastating earthquake in 2010. He also observed the plight of Darfur refugees as part of an international humanitarian mission to the Chad-Darfur border area in 2005. And in 2009, he was the only rabbi to participate in the Brookings U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, an annual conference designed to bring together key leaders in the worlds of politics, business, media, academia, and civil society from across the Muslim world and the United States.
The board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), in 2000, honored him with its “International Humanitarian Award” for his commitment to human rights and social and economic justice. He delivered the opening prayer for the 2006 Darfur rally in Washington, D.C.
Rabbi Jacobs grew up in Southern California where he is a product of the Reform Movement, and has held numerous leadership posts within the URJ, the CCAR, ARZA and WUPJ. He also has served on the boards of such Jewish organizations as the World Union for Progressive Judaism, American Jewish World Service and the New Israel Fund.
To learn more about Rabbi Jacobs and read some of his work, log on to: http://urj.org/about/union/leadership/rabbijacobs/
Rabbi Rick Jacobs will be our guest for an “Audacious Hospitality” Dinner, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the OPT Community Hall. He will be delivering an address during the Friday evening Shabbat service starting at 8 p.m. (See the form on the right to reserve a space at the free dinner.)
Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion is indeed privileged to have such a distinguished leader honor us on this auspicious occasion. Rabbi Jacobs, who is the only URJ president to have served as the spiritual leader of a congregation, has led our 1.5 million member movement since June 2012. More than 900 congregations throughout the United States and Canada are part of the URJ. He is only the fourth president in URJ’s history.
From the time of his nomination as URJ president, Rabbi Jacobs became one the most prominent leaders in Judaism. Newsweek Magazine and The Daily Beast placed him seventh on their 2011 list of America's 50 Most Influential Rabbis, describing him as “magnetic” and “known for prioritizing social justice ... and rethinking worship to engage the disaffected. ” He held the same position on the 2012 list, where he was described as “a charismatic speaker and...a staunch defender of Israel, ” according to the article. He moved up to sixth on the 2013 list. In 2011, the Jewish Daily Forward listed him third on its “Forward 50” list of the 50 most significant American Jews. And the Jerusalem Post listed him 26th on its 2012 list of the “50 most influential Jews in the world.”
An inspiring and dynamic speaker widely regarded as a creative change agent, Rabbi Jacobs was the spiritual leader at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale for 20 years before taking on the Reform movement’s leadership. There, he reshaped communal worship, transformed the congregation into a community of lifelong learners and strengthened the synagogue's commitment to vibrancy and inclusion. Under his leadership, his congregation completed a new "green" sanctuary, one of only a handful of Jewish houses of worship in the nation to carry this designation.
Before his tenure at WRT, Rabbi Jacobs served the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, where he founded and co-directed the first synagogue-based homeless shelter in New York City.
Dedicated to global social justice issues, Rabbi Jacobs was part of a delegation that assessed disaster response following Haiti's devastating earthquake in 2010. He also observed the plight of Darfur refugees as part of an international humanitarian mission to the Chad-Darfur border area in 2005. And in 2009, he was the only rabbi to participate in the Brookings U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, an annual conference designed to bring together key leaders in the worlds of politics, business, media, academia, and civil society from across the Muslim world and the United States.
The board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), in 2000, honored him with its “International Humanitarian Award” for his commitment to human rights and social and economic justice. He delivered the opening prayer for the 2006 Darfur rally in Washington, D.C.
Rabbi Jacobs grew up in Southern California where he is a product of the Reform Movement, and has held numerous leadership posts within the URJ, the CCAR, ARZA and WUPJ. He also has served on the boards of such Jewish organizations as the World Union for Progressive Judaism, American Jewish World Service and the New Israel Fund.
To learn more about Rabbi Jacobs and read some of his work, log on to: http://urj.org/about/union/leadership/rabbijacobs/
