Rabbi Charles Arian

Rabbi Charles L. Arian is the rabbi of Kehilat Shalom synagogue in Montgomery Village, Maryland. He is a former board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, the Hoya Hoop Club and Consumer Health First, and a co-convenor of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Interfaith Alliance. Rabbi Arian grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and Hazlet, New Jersey. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and his Master’s degree and Rabbinic Ordination at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, OH. He earned a Certificate in Jewish Educational Technology from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2017 and a Certificate in Jewish Leadership from Spertus Institute in 2022. Rabbi Arian was a Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellow at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow at Clal. In May 2011, he received his Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, from Hebrew Union College and a second Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2015.  He has published a number of journal articles, was the co-author of the entry “Christian –Jewish Dialogue” in the new Encyclopedia of Christianity, and served as a distinguished guest lecturer at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. In December 2018, Rabbi Arian organized a group of rabbis and Jewish educators who spent five days volunteering at the US-Mexico border with the Kino Border Initiative.