Since 2004, Rabbi 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 a past President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis and was honored by the New England Jewish Labor Committee with the 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 Social Justice Commission, 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 his sabbatical in 2016, Rabbi Lerner 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 others 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, Ari, and Matan. An avid sports fan, David also enjoys playing softball, cycling, running, soccer, basketball and yoga.
He posts all of his sermons on The Times of Israel.
Rabbi Willis has been a regular presence in our community over the past year as our Rabbinic Intern, as she finished her rabbinic studies at Hebrew College. As Temple Emunah’s Rabbinic Intern, Rabbi Willis taught our 5th grade Religious School students, joined us for Shabbatot twice a month, and led many education sessions.
She studied Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz and worked as an outdoor educator in various settings, including at Teva, Camp Ramah in the Rockies, and Bamidbar Wilderness Therapy. Eliana fell in love with Talmud in the batei midrash of Pardes and Hadar, and taught at Teen Beit Midrash for three years. She has participated in several meaningful and formative fellowships, including the T’ruah Summer Fellowship, SVARA Talmud Pedagogy Project, and the Center for Small Town Jewish Life Rabbinic Fellowship. Eliana spent a year studying in Jerusalem and upon her return, she provided patients with pastoral care as a student chaplain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She loves gardening, singing in community, and picking up new crafts.
Deborah is excited to join the Temple Emunah community this year as she completes her rabbinic training at Hebrew College. Deborah spent this past momentous year studying in Israel. Deborah began rabbinical school after 11 years of teaching Jewish
Studies at SAR High School at The Heschel School in New York City. Deborah has completed fellowships in teacher leadership and mentoring through the Jewish New Teacher Project, The Mandel Teacher Educator Institute, and has served as a mentor for Pardes and Ayeka. Deborah is a graduate of Stern College of Yeshiva University, the Pardes Educators’ Program, and Harvard Graduate School of Education.
As a rabbinical student, Deborah has completed fellowships through The Hartman Institute, T’ruah, Resetting the Table, and the joint SVARA-Hebrew College Talmud Pedagogy Project. Deborah served as the rabbinic intern at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, rabbinic mentor at Emerson College, a guest rabbi at B’nai Israel Synagogue in her hometown of West Bloomfield, Michigan. Deborah also completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Deborah enjoys riding her bike, swimming, speaking Hebrew, and choral music. She’s delighted that Temple Emunah is located so close to Walden Pond, her favorite local nature spot!
Monday – Thursday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
