Rabbi Shira H. Joseph
On February 23, 2003, Congregation Sha'aray Shalom welcomed Rabbi Shira H. Joseph at an Open House brunch in her honor.
Rabbi Joseph will officially start on July 1 and will be Congregation Sha’aray Shalom’s first new rabbi in 24 years. At the brunch Rabbi Joseph presented the Congregation with a gift, of a silver Havdalah set made in Israel, in celebration of her future with our congregation.
Rabbi Joseph will join our temple, after serving nine years as one of the rabbis at Congregation Shir Ami, a 1,000 family synagogue located in Newtown, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.
"Congregation Sha'aray Shalom is a warm and vibrant community that embraced me, as well as my family, throughout the interview process," said Rabbi Joseph. "I'm very excited to bring religious, spiritual and educational guidance to the Congregation and I look forward to becoming an active participant in the broader South Shore community," she added.
During the months-long search for the new rabbi, search committee members immediately knew that Rabbi Joseph would be the pick of the temple members.
"We knew as soon as we met Rabbi Joseph and talked to her congregants that she had the compassion, charisma, depth of Judaic knowledge, and drive to lead our congregation," said David Rudolph, the head of the search committee.
Hearing that she was the choice of the congregation after an overwhelming vote in her favor, Rabbi Joseph expressed gratitude and excitement.
"I feel blessed and honored to be your rabbi," she wrote to the search committee. "How lucky my family and I are to be embraced by all of you…We have an exciting journey ahead for all of us."
Rabbi Shira H. Joseph was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in June 1995. She received her Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature from HUC-JIR in May 1994. Prior to her ordination, Rabbi Joseph served as a student Rabbi in Congregation Keneseth Israel in Allentown, PA.
Before becoming a rabbi, Rabbi Joseph was also a certified English teacher and reading specialist. She received a Masters of Education in 1979 from Lehigh University and a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers College in 1978. Rabbi Joseph is committed to the enhancement of synagogue life as well as serving the needs of the Jewish community at large. She is a contributor to the UAHC Jewish Parenting Manual "In the Beginning," as well as having served as a consultant on the UAHC publication, "Al Pi Darco," a resource for Jewish special needs children. She has co-authored a women's Haggadah, "The Matriarchs' Dance" in addition to having written many original) liturgies for holiday and life cycle celebrations.
She is a regular speaker at Hadassah meetings, including such topics as "Bad Girls of the Bible" and "Superstitions-Avoiding the Evil Eye." Her Hadassah chapter who sponsored her life long Hadassah membership recently honored her. Rabbi Joseph was instrumental in the building of a liberal mikveh (the third in North America) at Shir Ami and she created the Shir Ami Biblical Garden with help from her congregants. She is very involved in the education of interfaith families, teaching Introduction to Judaism, Stepping Stones and Parenting classes, believing that education is the path to choice and deeper observance.
Rabbi Joseph's commitment to serving the special needs of her congregants and the Jewish community at large led her in 1994 to found S.I.M.C.H.A., a special needs group serving the Greater Philadelphia area. In 1998, Rabbi Joseph founded S.I.M.C.H.A. Teens, a summer program for Jewish disabled teens.
Rabbi Joseph has lectured extensively across North America as a Jewish Special Needs Scholar. She has been a guest lecturer at Temple Emanuel, Cherry Hill, NJ, in February 1998, speaking on, "Seeing the Eternal Light in Each Person, Not Leaving Anyone Behind." In 1999, she was a speaker at Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio, a panelist on Spiritual Inclusion in Toronto, Canada at REENA's International Conference on Developmental Disabilities and a panelist at YAI National Institute for People with Disabilities 21st Annual International Conference in York City in May, 2000.
In 2001, Rabbi presented the keynote address at That All May Worship Network Conference in Philadelphia and has often been a speaker at the UAHC Biennials, the latest held in Boston on "Serving special needs children: Suggestions for B'nai Mitzvah Programs." Rabbi Joseph and her husband, Saul, recently celebrated their silver anniversary. They have three children, Shayna 21, Samantha, 20 and Lauren, 17.
Rabbi Joseph follows Rabbi Stephen Karol who was the temple's leader since 1979. Rabbi Karol has joined a temple in Stony Brook, New York.
Cantor Steven Weiss is the Cantor and Director of Education at Congregation Sha’aray Shalom in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he has served for the past five years.