Apply to be Kolot’s Next Rabbi

Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives is hiring a new rabbi!

Applications close January 1, 2025/1 Tevet 5785. 

Our next rabbi will enthusiastically continue and improve on our 30+ year commitments to participatory Jewish learning and observance, as well as our aspirations and activities around antiracism, queer and trans leadership and liberation, and our Open Tent. Please see the full Position Announcement below.

Update as of September 2024/Elul 5784:

  1. Thanks to the contributions of 200+ Kolotniks, we have a position announcement and a congregational profile! 

  2. All hands are needed for recruitment! Please find sample recruitment language and our visuals for Kolotniks to invite applications by email and social media here. Let us know how it’s going or if you have questions, complaints, or concerns here (we’ll check this weekly) — and stay tuned for some Kolot-wide conversations after the High Holy Days.

Position Announcement

Click here for a PDF version of the position announcement.

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives is a dynamic, independent and aspirationally antiracist Jewish congregation of 454 member-households — 590 individual members (our membership is individual, not household-based); as well ~50 non-member partners/spouses and 140 school-aged children for a core community of ~800 people. We seek a rabbi with a collaborative leadership style to provide warm, compassionate pastoral care and apply their deep Jewish learning to current community concerns. We seek a partner in making a welcoming, nourishing, joyful American Judaism that brings us together, sustains us through challenging times, and nourishes our work for a better future. This full-time position is for a sole rabbi to serve alongside our sole full-time cantor.

Who We Are

Founded in 1993, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives is a Jewish congregation where doubt can be an act of faith and all hands are needed to build our community. We are Jews of varying sexual orientations, gender identities, races, family arrangements, ages, and Jewish identities and backgrounds. We hold a commitment to ending structural racism and becoming an antiracist congregation, with all the joyful and messy work that entails.

Ritual observance is at the heart of our community. We hold weekly Torah study and Shabbat services as well as High Holy Day and other holiday services; offer members support with care and ritual through life-cycle events; provide childrens’ education from early childhood through B’Mitzvah and post-B’Mitzvah programs; and provide adult learning opportunities. We yearn for, and create together, expressions of our Judaism as we grapple with Israel/Palestine, racism and other difficult issues of our day, and we are known for our advocacy, usually in partnership or coalition, for social justice in the communities to which we belong.

Role and Responsibilities

The rabbi serves as the primary leader of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, guiding our spiritual, political, and communal practices and programs by identifying community needs and leading us in meeting them with creative ideas informed by deep Jewish learning.

Specifically, the rabbi is responsible for:

Ritual

The rabbi brings their deep spirituality to Shabbat and holiday services, drawing on an intimate familiarity with tradition, while also demonstrating the interest and talent to create new prayers and practices. Their own sense of connection to the Divine comes through and inspires the congregation to move into a spiritual place along with them. Kolot provides spiritual solace for members through life cycle events, grief, joys, and the challenges of daily life. The rabbi, in partnership with the cantor, develops and leads engaging rituals. Embracing Kolot’s participatory approach to worship, the rabbi seeks to develop it with their own vision and energy, especially towards antiracist, pro-queer, feminist Judaism in conversation with, and alongside, more established traditions. The rabbi shares their own teachings and inspirations, welcomes to the bimah diverse teachers from within and beyond our congregation, and draws out contributions from members as students, chanters, and interpreters of Torah, leaders of ritual, and musical performance.

Community Building

In keeping with our founding ethos, the rabbi actively supports and celebrates the participation and leadership of Jews too often excluded from synagogue life and beyond. (The congregational profile contains more detail.) The rabbi, together with the community, confronts and works to transform structural systems of oppression as they exist within the synagogue as well as the world around us. The rabbi supports the Board and membership in working constructively to address issues and policies where there may be pain or division inside our community, including racism and Israel/Palestine.

Through inclusive and collaborative leadership, the rabbi strengthens our community by identifying members’ strengths and encouraging our contributions of initiative, time, and talents–recognizing that indeed, “all hands are needed.”

The rabbi contributes to Kolot’s financial vitality by working with lay leadership to examine membership dues policies and accountability, and assisting in efforts to raise funds to support the community’s endeavors, including around High Holy Day services.

Pastoral Care

Both rabbi and cantor officiate ritual observance for members and members’ family, including funerals and shiva gatherings, baby namings, weddings, divorces, gender transitions, and more. The rabbi builds relationships across the community and with the cantor and a lay-led committee for care and mutual aid (Gemilut Chasadim) to ensure members receive consistent ritual and spiritual guidance during life transitions. With the cantor and staff, they assess and improve Kolot’s capacity to meet these needs of our membership.

Study and Education

With advice and facilitative leadership, the rabbi supports the work of the Board, staff, and volunteer members to promote and nurture a comprehensive, lifelong Jewish experience. Please see the Congregational Profile for more about our educational programs as they are and as we hope them to be.

Other Responsibilities

The rabbi represents the congregation in connection with movements and campaigns for justice aligned with the congregation’s values, and is free to engage separately in efforts meaningful to the rabbi personally.

Kolot is governed by a Board of 15 elected congregants. As spiritual authorities and senior leaders of the community, our clergy are responsible for supporting and partnering with the Board and executive director in matters of policy, governance, and administration. The rabbi and cantor work in close partnership, and each builds close partnership with Board members and staff by serving as an advisor, attending Board meetings, and fostering the participatory and transparent leadership Kolot aspires to model.

Compensation

Salary Range: $155,000-$195,000

(commensurate with experience) along with a competitive benefits package.

The Congregation recognizes that the job of a pulpit rabbi is extraordinary and demanding. At Kolot, the cantor shares all pastoral responsibilities, including life cycle rituals and holidays and – in collaboration with the rabbi – has long led the work of planning and guiding services. Of special note, Kolot has a longstanding and robust practice of lay leaders sharing duties on the bimah, including drashing, leyning, and leading services in the clergy’s absence. They are trained or supported by the clergy to do so. The Board is an active partner with the clergy in setting and managing expectations of both rabbi and cantor so that the individuals in these roles can have the work-life balance that supports a long-term commitment to and presence in these leadership roles.

Who You Are

You have these formal qualifications:

• Have received smicha or ordination from a recognized institution or source;

• Have at least 5 years professional experience in a leadership role preferably at least 3 years as a rabbi in a congregation, with additional experience in rabbinic or non-rabbinic work that has prepared you to: teach; offer pastoral care; and work well with a board, staff, and/or volunteers;

• Have lived, organizational and/or educational experience in antiracist efforts.

You have a demonstrated ability and commitment to:

• Developing and leading creative approaches to Jewish ritual and prayer, including making them accessible and meaningful for Jews with a range of prior experiences and levels of familiarity regarding Jewish customs and practice;

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with leaders of color, including supporting their leadership and working effectively in multiracial communities;

• Working effectively with people of all genders, and supporting the leadership of LGBTQ+ people;

• Providing pastoral care across a wide spectrum of needs;

• Working and/or leading collaboratively across differences general to American society (such as race, gender identity, sexuality, class, age, immigration status, ability, and so forth) and particular to Jewish communities (family background, level of observance, knowledge base, opinions about Israel/Palestine, etc.), especially around fostering community cohesion and addressing community conflict;

• Lifelong learning.

Recognizing access to leadership roles is limited by structural inequality, we encourage applicants to be expansive in their definition of leadership. Moreover, it is not necessary to meet every criterion completely – we encourage all interested applicants to apply. Kolot is an equal-opportunity employer. People of color, trans and gender-queer people, and women are especially encouraged to apply.

To Apply

By January 1, 2025 please submit by email to RabbiSearch@kolotchayeinu.org:

• A resume or CV;

• A sample drash/d’var Torah, which may be written (no more than 5 pages) or a recording (no more than 10 minutes);

• A written (of no more than 2 pages) or recorded (of no more than 5 minutes) statement of interest in leading our community and examples of how you have demonstrated the abilities and commitments listed above.

Please note we will acknowledge receipt of all applications but will not review any applications until after the January 1, 2025 deadline.