Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation

Rabbi Linda Joseph

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Linda Joseph as the synagogue’s first full-time rabbi. Rabbi Linda will assume the pulpit on July 1, 2010. The warmth of its members, the partnership between rabbi and congregation, the desire for programming, and the sacred commitment to building a spiritual home and a place of learning were all contributing factors that drew her to Beth Chaverim.

Before entering the rabbinate, Rabbi Linda earned degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Semitics at Melbourne and Sydney Universities in Australia. She worked with a number of Jewish organizations including the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, the New South Wales State Zionist Council, and Shalom College. Additionally, she taught and led the Progressive (Reform) Jewish community down-under. She helped establish the first independent Chavurah in the western suburbs of Sydney as well as a number of educational Chavurot in Melbourne, Australia. Rabbi Linda is also one of the original founders of Netzer, the Progressive Jewish Youth Movement in Australia (which is now a world wide organization - Netzer Olami - the roof body of NFTY, with its central offices in Jerusalem).

Rabbi Linda was ordained in 1994 at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati where she received her MA in Hebrew Letters. Then, she continued her education in Los Angeles at HUC-JIR where she earned a MA in Jewish Education. In 1994, she received the WRJ Prize for Outstanding Female Rabbinic Students and the Harold J. Wolf Memorial Prize for Social Action.

Rabbi Linda served as a student rabbi and rabbi spanning small to large congregations not only in Illinois, Tennessee, New Jersey, and Florida, but also in Melbourne, Australia. During her time in New Jersey, Rabbi Linda worked part-time in the studio of Sofer Neil Yerman repairing Torah Scrolls. In 2005, Rabbi Linda returned to the United States to assume the position of Senior Assistant Regional Director for the URJ Southeast Region. After nearly two years in that role, she became the Acting Regional Director, as the Southeast Council underwent a search for a new Regional Director. Beginning January 1st, 2008, Rabbi Linda was delighted to drop the nomenclature “Acting” from her title to become the Union for Reform Judaism’s Southeast Council Regional Director.

In June 2009, Rabbi Linda commenced a new role for the Union for Reform Judaism as the District Leadership Manager for the Congregational Support Center – South District working with the leadership of the Regional Boards and North American Boards. In addition she served a part-time pulpit in Coconut Creek, FL, volunteered in the pastoral care unit of Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, FL, and currently sits on the Board of the Women’s Rabbinic Network.

We invite you to welcome and meet Rabbi Linda at our events starting in July. Please consult our synagogue’s calendar to view our summer schedule.