Our Rabbi : Temple Emanu-El

Rabbi David J. Meyer

Rabbi David J. Meyer was called to the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El, Marblehead in the fall of 1992. Ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1986, Rabbi Meyer served for six years as the Associate Rabbi of the historic Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, California. He later received his Masters of Theology Degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1996, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Spertus Institute, Chicago. In May, 2011, Rabbi Meyer was awarded the Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) from HUC-JIR.

Rabbi Meyer's sermons and articles have appeared regularly in magazines and rabbinic journals, and his pioneering work in the area of synagogue outreach to the Jewish single and young adult population earned national recognition. He is the author of the acclaimed textbook on Jewish ethics, The Rabbinic Driving Manual: A Jewish Guide to Driver's Education.

In addition to his pulpit and pastoral duties, Rabbi Meyer is active in a wide variety of community activities and organizations on Boston's North Shore. He is a Past-President of the North Shore Rabbinical Association, and also of the Marblehead Ministerial Association. In addition, Rabbi Meyer has served as a member of the Essex County Anti-Crime Council. He is currently on the Board of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, and the MarbleheadCares Coalition.

Rabbi Meyer is a founding Board Member of “Art a la Carte”, a charitable organization that delivers artwork to the hospital rooms of long-term cancer patients. For ten years, he was a member of the Boston Children's Hospital “Miles for Miracles” Marathon Team. He sits on the national U.J.C. Rabbinic Cabinet, and is a recipient of the prestigious Community Rabbinic Leadership Award. In 2006, Rabbi Meyer received the Leonard P. Zakim Humanitarian Award from the Anti-Defamation League, in recognition of his work “building bridges” of understanding between differing faith communities.

Temple Emanu-El
Retrieving the afikomen at the second seder