Rabbi

Overview

SEASONAL RABBI POSTION

OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE

Our rabbi will serve as the spiritual leader of the Shirat HaYam community. We are looking for a rabbi to teach us and inspire us, to help us grow spiritually and intellectually, to comfort us and to share life with us. Our rabbi will bring energy and creativity, making Judaism accessible, relevant and meaningful. In addition, our rabbi will actively reach out to engage with and form warm, compassionate relationships with our members. Our rabbi will help us to expand our reach to offer a Jewish home on island to the greater Jewish community.

RESPONSIBILITIES

We are seeking a seasonal rabbi to begin in 2027. Ideally, our rabbi will be on-island from Memorial Day through the High Holidays. We acknowledge that being a seasonal rabbi can be a challenging role and we respect our rabbi’s need to balance their work for Shirat HaYam with their personal and other professional commitments; scheduling is flexible and can accommodate the rabbi’s individual needs, as necessary. Responsibilities will include:

– Lead High Holiday services, along with our cantorial soloist, and musicians

– Between Memorial Day and the High Holidays, lead Kabbalat Shabbat services and deliver adult education/Torah study sessions

– Develop creative programs to engage our members, their children and grandchildren in joyous activities and celebrations of Jewish life

– Provide pastoral care and spiritual counseling

– Actively engage with Shirat HaYam members and potential members in formal and informal settings forming supportive relationships

– Serve as a resource to the Board of Trustees and various committees, providing advice and participating in meetings and events

– Represent Shirat HaYam in the community including on the Nantucket Interfaith Council

– In the off-season, work with committees to plan programming and communicate with members relating to holidays, lifecycle events and significant events in the Jewish diaspora and Israel. Occasional visits to the island during the off-season may be considered.

Tagged as: seasonal

Timing Expectations: Fulltime from Memorial Day through the High Holidays and part-time remote work during the off-season.

Community Description:

Congregation Shirat HaYam, on the beautiful island of Nantucket, 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is the largest Jewish congregation on island with 250 families. We are the only pluralistic and egalitarian Jewish congregation. Our members joyously come together, primarily from Memorial Day through the High Holidays, to connect with each other and our Jewish traditions through our numerous worship, education and social programs. We hold weekly Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat services, in the Historic South Church Meeting House (Unitarian Universalists congregation) or on a beach with sunset views, led by a combination of our current part-time rabbi, visiting guest clergy and lay leaders. Our ticket-free High Holiday services draw up to 250 people each year. We take pride in our inclusiveness and openly embrace individuals and families of diverse backgrounds offering the warmth and spirituality of our Jewish community.

Shirat HaYam is a vibrant community sharing a deep love of Judaism and its traditions and a commitment to making Jewish life accessible and relevant to all our community. We offer our members spiritual, social and intellectual growth, and we embrace Tikkun Olam and a commitment to Israel. Our special quality is our warmth and intimacy; we highly value the joyous connections among our members. We also will value our new rabbi getting to know each of us and partnering with us to build our community.

Our synagogue is “pluralistic” and we are not affiliated with any movement. The congregants identify primarily as Reform and Conservative Jews, with a mix of members with Reconstructionist or Orthodox backgrounds. The majority of our adult members are joined by their children and grandchildren during the season.

During our main season, from Memorial Day until the High Holidays, we provide opportunities for lifelong Jewish learning, Torah study, and an esteemed visiting speakers and scholar-in-residence programs attracting nationally recognized leaders in Jewish life. We also offer many informal opportunities to build community such as weekly biking, pickleball, mah jongg, poker and a summer book group. We have a strong infrastructure of congregational committees, including Ritual, Speakers, Social Events, Membership, Finance, Adult Education, Tikkun Olam and Annual Fund. We are an active member of the Nantucket Interfaith Council which manages the Nantucket Food, Fuel and Rental Assistance (NFFRA) program.

In the off-season, we have regular in-person and zoom activities for our small year-round community and off-island members.

Work Remotely: no

Qualifications:

QUALIFICATIONS AND QUALITIES

We are looking for a rabbi with the following qualities and experience:

- Experienced, innovative teacher of children and adults, able to inspire and engage spiritually and intellectually deepening our understanding and engagement with Jewish teachings and heritage

- Effective communicator with exceptional interpersonal skills, capable of developing meaningful relationships with members of all ages and Jewish religious backgrounds, as well as interfaith families

- Experience in a congregation, including leading worship, teaching, life-cycle events and providing warm and compassionate pastoral care

- Rabbinic ordination from a recognized seminary

- Belief in the right of the Jewish people to a national state in Israel

- Ability to incorporate music in our worship and celebrations

- A level of observance which permits our rabbi to travel on Shabbat to lead services and educational events.

Position Start Date: January 1, 2027

Salary Range: $50,000-70,000

Send resumes and cover letter to:

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