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
Trips
8th/9th Grade Trip (Alternates New York City and Philadelphia)
We will be exploring the city, learning about the Jewish population and its history, as well as doing some sightseeing and experiencing the city and it's culture. This is a great opportunity for our 8th and 9th grade cohorts to build community and strengthen connections with other teens in Etzim!
10th Grade Trip to L’Taken Seminar in Washington, DC
Head to our nation’s capitol to join hundreds of other Jewish teens at the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center’s L’Taken Social Justice Seminar. Explore a variety of public policy issues, discover Jewish values surrounding these issues and learn the skills of an effective advocate. All of this culminates in a trip to Capitol Hill where we lobby our Congressional leaders. This trip is an integral part of the Confirmation experience, but is also open to those not participating. For 11th & 12th graders: You are invited to go to the RAC either on the second time track or for the first time.
11th/12th Grade (Alternates Service Trip and Civil Rights Tour of the South)
Service Trip to Charleston
The focus of this trip will be Tikkun Olam - the Jewish value of making the world a better place. Our group will volunteer on a construction crew for Habitat for Humanity, helping to build houses and working to break the cycle of poverty, helping more people achieve homeownership and a better future. We will also explore the city and learn about what makes Charleston such a special and unique place in the south, as well as for the Jewish community.
Civil Rights Tour
Explore the South through a Civil Rights lens on the 11th and 12th Grade Trip. We will learn about the struggles of African Americans to gain equality in the 1950s & 60s, visiting key sites and using the Civil Rights journey as a way to highlight the relationship of the Jewish and American identity. We will also explore why Jews, as a people who have known oppression, must care and act when others are oppressed.
