Rabbi Lerner
For the past fifteen years, David Lerner has served as the spiritual leader of Temple Emunah in historic Lexington, MA, where he is now the senior rabbi. A graduate of Columbia College and ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Lerner brings to his community a unique blend of warmth, outreach, energetic teaching, intellectual rigor and caring for all ages. Rabbi Lerner serves as Immediate Past President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis and was recently honored by the New England Jewish Labor Committee with their Abraham Joshua Heschel Award due to his efforts to help workers. During his presidency, the MA Board of Rabbis built bridges with the Muslim community in Boston and raised its profile on public policy issues. He also received the Gann Connect Award in 2018 for his efforts in promoting Gann Academy in the Jewish community. Other areas of interest are outreach to families and couples where only one partner is Jewish; he wrote the first ceremony in his movement for interfaith couples. He has written articles and chaired the Rabbinical Assembly’s Commission on Keruv (Outreach), Conversion and Jewish Peoplehood for four years. He has also served as President of the New England Rabbinical Assembly and currently, serves on the RA’s Committee on Social Justice advocating for stronger gun safety legislation. He is the founder of www.clergyagainstbullets.org and an advocate for Faiths United Against Gun Violence. Thanks to our teens, this may be the moment of change in this area!. Together with a group of Temple Emunah lay leaders, he founded a new organization for the Boston Jewish community: the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston, a Jewish burial society where volunteers lovingly prepare those who have died for burial. During a sabbatical three years ago, he was a scholar at Brandeis University where he researched liturgy and places of intersection between Judaism and eastern medicine and spirituality. Several years ago, Rabbi Lerner started Emunat HaLev: the Jewish Meditation and Mindfulness Institute of Temple Emunah where he and Barbara Neustadt, Paul Neustadt and Beni Summers all lead meditation groups throughout the week. In 2016, Rabbi Lerner organized a trip to Germany for 12 rabbis at the request of the German Consul General to New England. And in the summer of 2010 and 2018, he led the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston's Interfaith Clergy Seminar to Israel. He has also taken over 500 members of his community on Israel trips over the last twelve years. Previously he served as the associate rabbi at the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL for five years. While in the Chicago area, he served as president of both the Southeast Lake County Clergy Association and the North Shore Fellowship of Rabbis. A STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal) Rabbinic Fellow, Rabbi Lerner was chosen to develop leadership skills in order to revitalize synagogues through innovation, organizational change and visioning. For two years, Rabbi Lerner participated in the second rabbinic cohort of the interdenominational Institute of Jewish Spirituality. He also graduated from the HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Clinical Pastoral Education program. Rabbi Lerner is married to Sharon Levin, a psychotherapist in private practice in Lexington; they have three children: Talya, a senior at Gann Academy in Waltham; Ari, a freshman at the Gann, and Matan a 6th grader at Jewish Community Day School of Greater Boston. An avid sports fan, David also enjoys playing softball, cycling, running, soccer, basketball and yoga. He posts his sermons here: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/david-lerner/ Click here to contact Rabbi Lerner
Rabbi Fel
Rabbi Fel loves connecting with people and building relationships between different segments of the Temple Emunah community. Since arriving at Temple Emunah in 2011, Rabbi Fel has produced over 200 Shabbat videos garnering over 85,000 views allowing congregants to connect to the shul, created the Inclusion Committee to raise awareness about inclusion, earning Temple Emunah recognition as one of the original Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Program congregations, established Emunah Explorers, a day-time programming initiative connecting retirees, stay-at-home-parents, and others through daytrips, lunches, and social programs, and developed the Next Dor Corps program, encouraging post-b’nei mitzvah students to stay involved by reading Torah, leading religious services, and volunteering in communal programs. Rabbi Fel currently serves as President of the Greater Boston Cluster of the Rabbinical Assembly and was selected in 2018 to participate in the Israeli Consul General to New England’s Rabbinic Trip to Israel. He also provides kosher supervision to local supermarkets. Rabbi Fel enjoys cooking, woodworking, creating and playing percussion instruments, exploring the outdoors, and speaking Spanish (his family is from Argentina). He is married to Shayna (past NERUSY president), and together they rear three adorable kids: Nadav, Eliana, and Lior. Feel free to schedule an appointment to learn with or schmooze with Rabbi Fel. |
Rabbi Michael Mauricio Fel is proud to serve as the Rabbi of Temple Emunah. Originally from Miami, Florida, Rabbi Fel earned a bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Miami. He went on to receive his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary where he learned as a Schusterman Rabbinic Fellow and earned a Master's Degree in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation from the Graduate School.