Dear Colleagues,
We are excited to announce that, starting July 1, Ilana Garber will be our Director of Global Rabbinic Development. This new position was created in response to our Strategic Plan, which focuses on developing relationships between rabbis for our shared growth and support, a more expansive vision of the variety of rabbinic career paths, and increased strategic partnerships.
As Director of Global Rabbinic Development, Ilana will join our RA's rabbinic staff in fulfillment of our strategic plan's mandate to support and strengthen rabbis. In this role Ilana will:
- Provide counsel in areas of spiritual direction, transition support, and workplace conflict for colleagues throughout the world and in all areas of the rabbinate.
- Partner with lay leaders and institutional partners to develop and implement a comprehensive continuing education program in professional skills and Torah study.
- Partner with Emily Hendel, our Director of Career Services, in providing support for rabbis making a change in career, for congregations and organizations seeking rabbinic leadership.
Ilana is very familiar with the work of our RA as she served as co-chair of our RA's Women Rabbis Committee and was a key member of the Zera'im: Seeds of our Future team this past year. She also has extensive experience in educational and synagogue programming from her role as Rabbinic Director of Lifelong Learning & Community Engagement at Beth El Temple in West Hartford, CT. We are so pleased that she has chosen to bring her enthusiasm for supporting colleagues in our sacred work, skill in thoughtfully planning and implementing programs, and passion for education to our RA. If you'd like to know more about Ilana's background, her bio is below.
This is also an opportunity to thank Emily Hendel for all of her outstanding efforts during a uniquely challenging placement season. Together with a wonderful team of placement coaches, Emily has helped support dozens of rabbis and congregations through their transitions.
We look forward to welcoming Ilana to the team when she officially starts in July.
Jacob and Stewart
Rabbi Ilana C. Garber has served the community of Beth El Temple (West Hartford, CT) since August 2005, most recently as Rabbinic Director of Lifelong Learning & Community Engagement. She graduated from the double degree program of List College (Talmud) and Barnard College (Religion) in 2000, and received her MA from the Wm. Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education in 2003. She was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2005.
Rabbi Garber has volunteered for our RA as co-chair of the Women's Committee and as coordinator of this year's Virtual Pesach "Seder Made to Order." She has served on several committees including convention, nominating, and Zera'im: Seeds of our Future. She is especially proud of the retreat for recently ordained female rabbis that she organized in 2018.
A visionary Jewish educator, Rabbi Garber created SULAM (Seek, Understand, Learn, Act, Marvel) in a complete overhaul of Beth El Temple's religious school. Passionate about the mikveh, she wrote the curriculum to train mikveh guides for Boston's Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh. Currently she serves on the board of Greater Hartford's Mikveh Bess Israel.
Rabbi Garber has been recognized as a leader throughout her career. In 2007, she was named a "Mover & Shaker" by the CT Jewish Ledger. She received the inaugural Arnold Zar-Kessler Outstanding Alumni Award from Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston in 2014. She is a former New England USY Regional President and an alum of Nativ 15.
Ilana is married to Dr. Adam Berkowitz, a musician and web developer, and they are raising their two sons in West Hartford, CT. She writes about Jewish parenting, raising a child with special needs, and being a cancer survivor - all at the same time - often on Kveller.