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North Shore Temple Emanuel

a Progressive Jewish Congregation

Rabbi Misha Clebaner

Rabbi Misha left NSTE in June 2022 after serving our community with distinction since August 2019. We are richer for him having been with us. We wish him the very best in his new role at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rabbi Misha, born in the Crimea of the Soviet Union, was raised in San Francisco, California. He received his Bachelors in Religion and Sociology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Inspired by the social activism of the global Jewish community on behalf of Russian-Speaking Jews and the work of 'tikkun olam' by the local Jewish organisations in California and Georgia, Rabbi Misha worked as a volunteer for AmeriCorps as the programs coordinator at an agricultural and vocational secondary school. Rabbi Misha also served as a volunteer for the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) in Lucknow, India. Working with rural youth, he helped to develop a vocational training centre that allowed the students to learn valuable vocational skills.

With a passion for Jewish text study and a love for the Hebrew language, Rabbi Misha has studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem along with the Conservative Yeshiva.

A youth educator since his days in San Francisco, Rabbi Misha has taught in Jewish communities across all age groups and denominational lines. From Progressive synagogues to Modern Orthodox summer camps, Rabbi Misha has been inspired by the endless curiosity and imagination of children as they begin to develop new definitions of what it means to be Jewish for their generation.

Understanding the importance of communal support during all moments in a person's life, Rabbi Misha completed 400 hours of Clinical Pastoral Education at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Boston, Massachusetts (a Harvard teaching hospital). Using the skills that he learned in this rigorous training, Rabbi Misha served the Jewish communities of Wayland and Revere, Massachusetts as a Rabbinic Intern for one and two years, respectively.

During his time at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Boston, Rabbi Misha developed an interest in Jewish ritual and life cycle events. He was a proud participant in the local progressive Chevra Kadisha which provided for the end-of-life rituals for the greater-Boston community.

Dedicated to the ideals of emotional and spiritual growth, Rabbi Misha has published articles on the themes of prayer, self-love, and communal responsibility for one another. 

Most recently, Rabbi Misha was the educator for the Eser - Young Adult Learning Series which hosted Jewish text study programmes in the intimate and casual setting of the living rooms of volunteer hosts. Opening the walls of the synagogue to allow for Judaism to flow freely throughout the greater community proved to be wildly popular. Another formative experience for Rabbi Misha was working at the Brandeis-Bardin Collegiate Institute in California as an educator-in-residence. This summer programme is crafted for spiritual seekers and curious thinkers that want to deepen their Jewish learning and identity formation. As a summer camp for Jewish adults between 18-30, programme participants split their days between honing and developing new art skills and learning classical and contemporary Jewish texts.

Passionate about Israel education, Rabbi Misha is a graduate and a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, as well as the Birthright Israel Leadership programmes.

Rabbi Misha was also a fellow in the CIRCLE Interfaith Leadership programme, where along with a Muslim colleague, he developed a programme on the topic of fighting food insecurity and increasing awareness around the issue of hunger and starvation in adults and children.

Rabbi Misha is married to Anabelle Harari, a Registered Dietician working in the field of fertility and nutrition. Rabbi Misha is humbled to be serving as a Rabbi for the NSTE community and looks forward to sharing more of his story and to hearing those of the community members' stories as well.

Tue, 19 March 2024 9 Adar II 5784