Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz’s Jewish life has brought her through many denominational doors: growing up in a Modern Orthodox community in the suburbs of London, transitioning to a Reform community during her college years and, simultaneously, into a Jewish Renewal chavurah. She became Senior Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Shalom in July 2012 after 6 years as the Associate Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel, Bridgeport, CT. She served for several summers with the management team of Elat Chayyim before beginning her rabbinic studies at Leo Baeck College, London and Hebrew Union College, NY. Prior to entering the rabbinate, she taught at University College London and the University of Sussex, gaining a Ph.D. in Cultural Geography (Sociology). Drawing on that expertise, she brings the outside world into her teaching, recognizing the centrality of the social experience in creating vibrant synagogue community. In Bridgeport, she was a founder of an interfaith ‘Tent of Abraham’ program and has recently launched a multi-town interfaith encounter initiative in Central MA. She works as a partner with her lay leadership, shaping the identity and values of the congregation together, and seeking to make it more of a model of the values and sacred community that we aspire toward.