About Us - Clergy | Congregation Shomrei Emunah

Rabbi David Greenstein arrived at Shomrei Emunah in August 2009 with a rich background as a rabbi, scholar, cantor, artist and teacher. Being Shomrei’s rabbi, he says, allows him to tap all of these passions, along with his lifelong commitment to building Jewish communities.

He is a scholar and teacher who draws children to the bimah by offering them candy to join him in Ein Kelohenu. He teaches the meaning of the High Holy Days by transforming Shomrei into a “Mitzvah Bakery,” in which members of all ages bake bread for the hungry and prepare, on their own levels, for the Days of Awe. He has lectured widely in scholarly settings, but on Shabbat mornings, he is less likely to give a sermon than to teach interactively about meanings embedded in that day’s texts and prayers.

The beauty of Judaism, he says, is that it offers an opportunity to live an “integrated life,” to join our spiritual and physical selves.

“Community has always been a quest for me,” he said, tracing the inspiration to his father, also a rabbi. His most important teacher, Rabbi Greenstein said, was his grandfather, a candy store owner and Talmud scholar, who planted the seed of his grandson’s passion for Kabbalah.

Rabbi Greenstein and his wife Zelda, a documentary film editor, have been building Jewish communities for many years. In 1972, they helped start Project Ezra, a social service program still serving Jewish elderly poor on the Lower East Side of New York. They were founding members of the Fort Greene Jewish Family Cooperative in Brooklyn and also of what is now the Hannah Senesh School, a non-denominational Jewish day school in downtown Brooklyn. The Greensteins have a son, Yonah, who is an undergraduate at Bard College.

Before coming to Shomrei, Rabbi Greenstein was president and rabbinic dean of the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic rabbinic seminary in New York. He was the spiritual leader of the New Hyde Park Jewish Community Center from 1993 until its merger in August 2004 with Shelter Rock Jewish Center. At Shelter Rock, he founded and directed the Shiluv Project, an initiative devoted to developing programs and resources for integrated Jewish living.

For years before his ordination, Rabbi Greenstein was an exhibiting artist, painting during the week and serving as a cantor on Shabbat.

“One of the things I learned as a painter was how you can be creative within the tradition,” he says. “We live in a real world that is constantly changing. The depth of the Jewish tradition evolved in response to this reality, and so it should continue.”

“The Shomrei community is so full of uniquely gifted individuals,” he says, “that - as a sacred community - it has the potential to become a source of great strength, support, love and joy to everyone it touches.”

To contact Rabbi Greenstein, email dgreenstein@shomrei.org

Other fast facts about Rabbi Greenstein:

* BA in Philosophy and MA in Talmud from Yeshiva University

* MFA in Painting from Queens College

* Ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic rabbinic seminary in New York.

* Ph.D. in Medieval Jewish Thought from New York University

* Member of the Rabbinical Assembly

* Former president and rabbinic dean of the Academy of Jewish Religion

* Former cantor and rabbi of New Hyde Park Jewish Community Center

* Served on the editorial board of Conservative Judaism Magazine

* Published essays on Jewish religious thought, aesthetics and pluralism

* Taught Talmud, Mishnah, Halakhah and Kabbalah at the Academy for Jewish Religion, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Seminary and the Jewish Theological Seminary

* Served on the faculty of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, New York.

* Art instructor at Queens College, the 92nd Street Y, and various schools and colleges in Israel.

* Lecturer on art, Judaism and Kabbalah at such venues as University of Connecticut, FIT, UJA/Federation NY and the Jewish Museum.

Cantor Cecelia Beyer

Cecelia is a fifth year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary who is also pursuing a concentration in sacred music as part of her studies. A Cherry Hill native, she is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the George Washington University Law School. She comes to JTS most recently by way of Connecticut, where she lived for three years and was an active teacher in the Jewish community. A graduate of Young Judaea, she has also spent significant time living and working in Israel, and is a life member of Hadassah. She is a classically trained soprano and a huge musical theater buff, who loves to sing and dance whenever (and wherever) possible. At JTS she has served on the Women's League Seminary Synagogue staff for three years and also served as one of two student co-chairs of Ishah El Ahotah - the Women's Center at JTS, in charge of women's programming for the seminary community. She has crafted and led services in many different settings at JTS, including the High Holiday "Kehillah Minyan," a creative and interactive service open to members of the general community.

Cecelia is thrilled to return to her Shomrei Emunah community, having served as Junior Congregation and Children's Service leader for a year and a half. Prior to returning to Shomrei Emunah, she served as a Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, the largest LGBT synagogue in the world. Cecelia lives in Manhattan with her husband Gabe and their two black cats, Willow and Sabrina, and spends her summers at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.