2007 - 2008 Board of Directors

Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Rodfei Zedek since 1988. A native of Springfield, MA, he attended Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. From 1982-1988 he served his first pulpit in New Haven, CT. In Chicago he has been Chairman of the Joint Television Commission of the Jewish Federation and the Chicago Board of Rabbis, President of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Interfaith Council, and a board member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.

Rabbi Gertel is a member of the editorial boards of Conservative Judaism and Jewish Spectator. He has contributed many essays and reviews to popular and scholarly publications in the fields of religious thought, Jewish literature and American Jewish history, and has been the film and TV reviewer for the National Jewish Post and Opinion since 1979.

On the congregational level, Rabbi Gertel has been an innovator whose programs have won Solomon Schechter awards for music and publications and unique programming. He has pioneered in outreach to synagogue alumni and in joint ventures with other Jewish communal agencies such as Jewish Family Services. He has written several Festival services for children and adults, and developed the concept of “one synagogue with several schools” which has become fundamental at Rodfei Zedek.


Modified: Last Modified:April 14, 2008. 17:24:37 pm