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
Hebrew Learning
Hebrew is woven into our KG- 2nd grade curriculum in an introductory way. Children become familiar with the sounds of the modern spoken language through everyday words and phrases, Hebrew through movement, and music.
Children in 3rd grade deepen their learning of modern Hebrew following the same curriculum as our Mayim program and expanding it further.
Starting in 4th grade, the Mayim Tamid children join their peers in Mayim for Small Group Hebrew. During these instruction sessions, they learn to decode letters and vowels and begin applying their decoding skills to simple Hebrew prayers. Each group includes no more than six children guided by one Hebrew educator, allowing for individual attention and instruction. Groups are determined first by the day of the week that parents choose for Hebrew instruction, then by proficiency. We do our best to arrange groups at similar levels, but even in a mixed group the educators tailor the sessions to multiple levels and give each student individualized attention.
Hebrew instruction continues in grades 5-7 when the children enter our Shorashim program. Children practice and improve their Hebrew language skills and gain proficiency in t’filah (prayer) and reading Torah text.
