Rabbi Jay Perlman
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Rabbi Jay Perlman is a Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom. Since his arrival in Needham in the summer of 2003, Rabbi Perlman has been dedicated to nurturing a warm, vibrant, spiritually meaningful community. He is proud to share in this sacred service with many outstanding clergy, professional, and lay leaders.
Rabbi Perlman is active in both the Needham and the Greater Boston Jewish community. He is an active member of the Needham Clergy Association, including having recently served as president. He currently serves on the New England Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League. He frequently dedicates two weeks during summer to serve on the faculty at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp Eisner. Rabbi Perlman has served as a rabbinic mentor for both the Hebrew College Rabbinic Program and the rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is a regular teacher for the URJ’s “Taste of Judaism” and “Introduction to Judaism” programs and is a member of the Needham Coalition for Suicide Prevention.
Before coming to the Boston area, Rabbi Perlman served at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, MO. While there, he was awarded UJA Federation’s Rabbinic Award for outstanding community leadership. Rabbi Perlman was active in the development of innovative worship experiences, creative youth programming, and in working with the St. Louis Jewish deaf community. In addition, Rabbi Perlman was the founding Rabbinic Director of the Fleischer Jewish Healing Center of St. Louis.
Rabbi Perlman was ordained from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1996. While at HUC, he was the recipient of a number of academic awards, including his selection as a Steinhardt Scholar for his work in informal education.
Rabbi Perlman is originally from the Boston area. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Brandeis University, where he received his B.A. in both History and Near East and Judaic Studies. Rabbi Perlman has participated in numerous study opportunities in Israel, including programs at the Hartman Institute, the Conservative Yeshiva, the Pardes Institute, Hebrew University, and through the World Zionist Organization.
Rabbi Perlman has a passion for teaching, learning, building bridges, and sharing the beauty of our Jewish tradition. He joyfully shares his life with his wife, Emily, and their children Liana and Jonah.
K-12 Learning At Temple Beth Shalom
B. Mitzvah Journey Program
The journey toward becoming B. Mitzvah* is one of the most special times in the life of a
Jewish child and their family. At its heart, becoming B. Mitzvah is about discovering in
oneself the ability to lead, to teach, and to make the world better. It is about seeing the
Torah in a new light, discovering a new connection to being Jewish and being part of the
Jewish community. It is about stepping into a time of greater independence, asking new
and deeper questions about what it means to be kind, compassionate, and responsible,
as well as questions about spirituality and being Jewish. It is also about being seen and
embraced by family, friends, and the larger community as a leader, a teacher, and one
who works to improve the world. It is about developing confidence and pride. It is about
recognizing this same growth in your friends and peers and learning to appreciate their
strengths. It is about learning how to celebrate and how to be gracious, both as a host and
as a guest. It is about parents passing Torah from one generation to the next, and all that
this represents. It is about joy, celebration, and love.
Jewish tradition has long understood that this stage in life – when our children begin their teen years – is a time of important change and growth. While not quite becoming “adults,” our children are beginning “young adulthood.” Every element of becoming B. Mitzvah is intended to help us make this vision come to life: Our children help to lead our service and chant verses of Torah. They study their Torah portion in English and prepare a personal D’var Torah, a thoughtful teaching, that they share. They spend time engaged in a meaningful Mitzvah Project. They celebrate with family and friends.
We love working with all of our B. Mitzvah kids and their families, and we work closely with every family to make this milestone celebration accessible to every child. Our kids work with all of our rabbis, their tutors, and their teachers to prepare for a truly special day.
If you have any questions about the journey towards becoming B. Mitzvah at TBS, please feel free to contact Sarah Damelin, the Director of the B. Mitzvah Journey Program (sdamelin@tbsneedham.org).
*A word about “B. Mitzvah”: We have adopted as a title to our program, the TBS B. Mitzvah Journey Program. Here, the “B” may stand for whatever word for ‘child’ will be most meaningful for a family. In recent years, some families have sought more inclusive language to reflect the gender identity of their child/children who are questioning or are currently fluid in their gender identification. Families may choose to have their children become Bar Mitzvah, meaning “son of the commandments,” Bat Mitzvah, meaning, “daughter of the commandments,” B’nei Mitzvah or B’not Mitzvah,” both meaning “children of the commandments,” or if they wish to keep the language more open, a child may become “B’Mitzvah” - a non-gendered title that may be translated simply as “child of the commandments.” We work with each family to determine the most meaningful language for your family.
