Jessica Lowenthal Weber
A Rabbi with a Hornstein MA/MBA
“Eight years in graduate school is a lot,” laughs Rabbi Jessica Lowenthal Weber, who was ordained into the rabbinate in May. That’s two years at the Hornstein Program, and six years at the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College. “If I had to go to grad school for eight years, these would be the two places I’d want to be,” she confirms.
In early August, Jessica will begin work at Temple Beth Shalom in Melrose, Massachusetts where she will serve as both rabbi and education director. “It’s a congregation of 90 families,” she says. “My goal for this synagogue is to get people to want to be part of this community. I want to get to know everyone personally and be someone they can turn to.”
Jessica’s eyes are merry. “I think I'll be energized by the work and by meeting people,” she says. “Relationship building is definitely a part of the rabbinate but I think that’s true for a lot of communal work. It all comes down to relationships.
“Plus I'll have a lot of coffee dates to perk me up if I’m tired! I think the content of the work is exactly what I need. It feels much lighter to me than being a student,” she says, recalling graduate school.
Going into the rabbinate, Jessica’s personal goal for herself and her family is to find nice work-life balance. “At Hornstein we talked a lot about the struggle for a work-life balance,” she remembers. “While I love my community and certainly do not have a 40-hour work week, it is important that my family is central,” says Jessica. “Thankfully, I have found a community that supports placing family as my number one priority. I hope that through modeling my own balance I can inspire others to create boundaries and hold to them, and remember that Judaism is all about community and family.”
Jessica knew she wanted to be a rabbi after she graduated from Hornstein in 2012 and went to work for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Boston. “Working at ADL should have been my dream job,” she says. “I was working with partner organizations on important legislation and advocacy, creating meaningful programs for the Jewish community and putting my values into action.”
If you called the ADL in Boston to report an anti-Semitic incident back then, Jessica would have answered the call. “One of my jobs was to take incident reports,” she recalls. Many of her friends didn’t think there was much, if any, anti-Semitsm in the US, and what did exist, they thought, targeted Israel. She was often at odds with her friends on this topic, having grown up hearing the news of the Jewish world from her father, who was at the time director of the American Jewish Committee in Boston. He shared that kind of stuff. Working at ADL only confirmed what she’d heard from him.
Still, the prevalence surprised her. “It was shocking to learn that every week there was at least one swastika found or vandalism that had occurred in a cemetery. We were training police how to recognize the various dog whistles and language from white supremacists groups.”
Anti-Semitism in the U.S. may not have been as widely recognized by the public a short decade ago, but it was there. “We just didn’t hear about it out loud like we heard about Islamophobia and anti-immigration attitudes. But it was there,” says Jessica, “waiting to exert itself at a larger scale.” ADL reports that in 2018 they recorded the third-highest number of incidents since they began tracking them four decades ago.
As much as Jessica appreciated the work she was doing, something was missing, she says. “I wanted to be talking about Judaism explicitly, not just as general values, and I missed teaching. I missed ritual. When I looked at everything together, I realized my ultimate dream was to become a rabbi and incorporate everything I love about the nonprofit world with the synagogue world.”
One year out of Hornstein, Jessica applied and was accepted to the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College. In May she realized her dream to become a rabbi.
Today Jessica is the only staff person at her synagogue, which, she says, “has been mostly lay run for its 60-year history and has relatively few systems in place. Part of their decision to hire a full time rabbi was the realization that if they want to grow, they needed to become more organizationally competent. Part of my job is to bring the congregation into that mindset. Most synagogues today are doing way more than weekly services — they are running programs, advocating in their community and innovating what it means to “do Judaism.”
As nonprofits in the Jewish community, synagogues share much with other nonprofits. “We share similar issues and problems. We all struggle with budget issues and volunteers and staff burnout. What I learned at Hornstein is so clearly applicable to the synagogue,” she says.
Whenever Ellen Smith learns that a prospective student is wavering between a Hornstein dual-degree or rabbinical school, she sends them to talk to Jessica.
“Hornstein has given me the tools I need to succeed,” she says, referring to her work at Temple Beth Shalom. “I am a huge believer in the MBA dual-degree program. I truly believe that an MBA will be applicable in most organizations.
“If you are unsure where you want to be in the Jewish world, but know that you want to make an impact, Hornstein will help you,” she says. “The degree is applicable in so many different areas, and always well respected. Even if you might end up in rabbinical school, it is worth it!”
“Sure, eight years in grad school is a long time,” she says laughing. “They were good years. And now I’m looking forward to the next good eight years!”
In Her Own Words: An Interview with Jessica Lowenthgal Weber
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I was born in Framingham, Massachusetts and grew up at Temple Beth El in Sudbury, a Reform synagogue with Rabbi Larry Kushner. My father was a Jewish professional, so Judaism and inter-group relationships were part of our daily conversations. When I entered high school, I fell in love with NFTY, the Reform Movement’s youth group. I continued my involvement with Judaism at Hillel, leading services most Friday nights.
I came back from a few months in Israel and began interning at the American Jewish Committee in Boston. I wasn’t sure what my next steps should be, but I knew I wanted to continue working in the Jewish world. When I thought about a graduate program, Hornstein was the obvious choice. After seeing the ins and outs of the Jewish nonprofit world my whole life, I knew there were many ways our systems could be improved. I wanted to get my Master of Business Administration to help these organizations create best practices and become more efficient, leaving more time for the important work they are doing.
After I graduated, I began work at the ADL in what should have been my dream job. I was working with partner organizations on important legislation and advocacy, creating meaningful programs for the Jewish community and putting my values into action. However, I realized something was missing. I wanted to be talking about Judaism explicitly, not just as general values, and I missed teaching. It was hard to be active in a Shabbat community when I spent my whole week in the Jewish world, but I missed a ritual life. When I looked at everything together, I realized my ultimate dream was to become a rabbi and incorporate everything I love about the nonprofit world with the synagogue world.
Because my father was the director of the American Jewish Committee here in Boston, I grew up with dinner table conversations about what was happening in that world. I was also very involved with AJC and their Intergroup Relations. So I had always been aware that anti-Semitic incidents were around. But while working at ADL I began to realize that a lot of my peer group thought that the only anti-Semitism around was about Israel. Most of my friends had never experienced any type of anti-Semitism personally. At ADL, one of my jobs was to take incident reports. I was the person who took the call whenever somebody reported a hate crime to their local ADL office in the Boston area. And it was shocking to learn that every week there was at least one swastika found or vandalism that had occurred in a cemetery. We were doing training sessions with police around how to recognize the various dog whistles and language from white supremacists groups and why it all mattered.
So it was interesting because I was always at odds with many of my friends who didn’t think there was much anti-Semitic sentiment around. I’d disagree and say it’s around. We just don’t hear about it out loud like we hear about Islamaphobia and anti-immigration attitudes. It was there ten years ago waiting to exert itself at a larger scale.
Back in college I remember having a conversation with a friend about anti-Semitism. He believed that anti-Semitism was not a thing here in America and anybody who talked about it was blowing things way out of proportion. Now for the last three years he’s the rabbi at a synagogue in the Boston area and he told me recently that the hardest realization he’s had to make is that he was totally wrong. Now that he's the person who's called about all these incidents, he’s shocked how much anti-Semitism there is and that really, it’s always been here, and certainly an increase since 2015.
I am the only staff person at Temple Beth Shalom, a small synagogue in Melrose where I serve both as the rabbi and the education director. The synagogue, which has 90 families, has been mostly lay run for its 60-year history, and has relatively few systems in place. Part of their decision to hire a full-time rabbi was the realization that if they want to grow, they needed to become more organizationally competent. Most decisions had been ad hoc and as leadership transitioned, the wheel would be reinvented over and over again. Part of my job is to bring the congregation into that mindset. Most synagogues today are doing way more than weekly services — they are running programs, advocating in their community and innovating what it means to “do Judaism.” Hornstein has given me the tools I need to succeed in all of these areas.
There were so many experiences, especially thinking back on group study for accounting, something I never thought I would need to learn! But our travel experiences have to be some of the best I’ve ever experienced. Our time in Israel was important for my own continued relationship with the country. We heard from a huge variety of voices and had open conversations that I am not sure many other Jewish programs foster. Our trip to New York was amazing, especially our time at the Chabad headquarters and looking behind the scenes at chabad.org, one of the most important Jewish websites. I loved traveling with my cohort and our teachers, creating a bond and delving deep into our institutional world.
When I moved back from Jerusalem, I was staying with my parents in Coolidge Corner. I decided to add a very cute puppy to our family and began taking him daily to the local dog park. I ended up meeting a very sweet dog named Sydney and her dad, Phil, at the park. Eventually we got married and added two little boys to our hoard. Our sons are now 4 months and 2 years old, and we love watching them grow every day! Additionally, my parents are thrilled to be local grandparents, taking care of the boys whenever they can.
I did the program over six years on a part-time basis and was able to manage that along with my family and work obligations.
During Hornstein we talked a lot about the struggle for a work-life balance. I can say my biggest goal for myself is to find that balance and have my family be the main force in my life. While I love my community and certainly do not have a 40-hour a week job, it is important that my family is central. Thankfully, I have found a community that supports placing family as my number one priority. I hope that through modeling my own balance I can inspire others to create boundaries and hold to them, and remember that Judaism is all about community and family.
In my internships I’ve worked in a lot of larger synagogues, like Temple Israel of Boston, and the rabbis there work all the time. There are meetings, events — they're out late every night. So my goal is not to do that. I think working at Temple Beth Shalom will give me the freedom I need to see my family when I have time off, and that I’ll be able to schedule myself the way I need to.
Being a student means that you always have work to do, whether it is writing the next paper or doing research. Your mind is always busy and you never really rest from that. Now if I were working in a 9-5 job, it would be a big difference. I’d clock out of work and go home. But the rabbinate isn't really a 9-5 job so I'm not sure that there will be a big difference. I’ll likely still go to bed with a checklist of things that might keep me up at night. But personally, I did years of school because I wanted to keep working. There are some people who just love to be students, who are perpetual students, but I thrive in the working world. I am energized by working and meeting with people and teaching.
I was kind of drained by being in class all day. So I’m excited to be working and only working. I think I'll be energized by the work and by meeting people. Plus, I'll have a lot of coffee dates to perk me up if I’m tired! I think the content of the work is exactly what I need. It feels much lighter to me than being a student.
Yes. Relationship building is definitely a part of the rabbinate but I think that’s true for a lot of communal work. It all comes down to relationships — knowing the people that you're working with and knowing what they want to get out of their experience with your synagogue or program or organization. My goal is to get people to want to be part of this community. I want to get to know them very personally and be someone they can turn to. One of the most important roles of the synagogue is support during life-cycle events, such as during sickness or other kinds of trauma, and that’s when you need a rabbi in your life who you already have a relationship with, who you already trust, so that you don't hesitate to go to them if you need to.
I am a huge believer in the MBA dual degree program. I truly believe that an MBA will be applicable in most organizations. Hornstein blends the Jewish world with the important social and psychological realities discussed in the MBA. One of the highlights was the ability to use Jewish research for our statistics course.
If you are unsure where you want to be in the Jewish world, but know that you want to make an impact, Hornstein will help you. The degree is applicable in so many different areas and always well respected. Even if you might end up in rabbinical school, it is still worth it!
I would love to see a working group of alumni that come together to share questions from their work and brainstorm best practices/learn new research and information.
Ellen Smith always connects me with people who are considering the Hornstein Program or rabbinical school. What I’d like to say is that Hornstein opened me up to the very wide world of nonprofits, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and how we all are very similar. We share similar issues and problems. We all struggle with budget issues and volunteers and staff burnout. The synagogue is very similar. The synagogue is part of that fabric. What I learned at Hornstein is so clearly applicable to the synagogue. I value my teachers and the hands-on approach they had. If I had to go to grad school for eight years, these would be the two places I’d want to be.
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