On Monday, March 24, 2025, I’ll be installed as CCAR President at the annual CCAR Convention for a two-year term. Following years on the CCAR Board and as an officer, it’s a great honor to lead with CCAR’s Chief Executive, Rabbi Hara Person. The CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) was founded by Isaac M. Wise in 1889. Now serving 2300 rabbis across the world (active, retired, and interim), it is the professional organization for Reform rabbis.

We are a conference of Reform rabbis who serve in congregations, Hillels, academia, chaplaincies including the military, organizations, and freelance and entrepreneurial settings. We are rabbis who were ordained at HUC-JIR, the preeminent Reform seminary, and those who were ordained from non-HUC-JIR seminaries and demonstrate their devotion to Reform Judaism.

At the CCAR Convention, more than 500 rabbis will gather in person and online to accomplish deep learning with scholars, worship with intention and hope, convene with friends and new colleagues, and prepare for the future with increasing faith for what lies ahead of us.

CCAR rabbis are uniquely devoted to their sacred roles, and the CCAR is uniquely prepared to guide, instruct, and support rabbis where they are. Some are new and some are familiar with the demands of rabbinic life. A joy of being president of the Conference includes sharing from my personal and professional experiences at Beth Israel in Houston, where we’ve grown together in the best ways. I’m known to say, “As a rabbi, I’ve had very long days, but never a day of regret.” That doesn’t happen by accident. It begins with a partnership founded on trust and shared values and goals that, as rabbi and lay leaders, make the hard work worth it. I’m also known to say, “Patience and persistence.” It’s a reminder that Jewish organizations evolve slowly, but, if a new goal is valued, then it can be brought to fruition with thoughtful persistence, even over years.

While I serve CCAR, I’m also serving Beth Israel with the incredible and able support of my sacred partners, Rabbi Adrienne Scott, Rabbi Samuel Rheins, and Cantor Kenneth Feibush, and, of course, our amazing senior staff who care about all we do as a congregational family. We are blessed with a strong team.

“As the world turns,” to borrow a soap opera title, we need reliable sources of strength and a vision to guide us. I’m an optimist, though not a cockeyed one. To be sure, we have obstacles before us that we haven’t personally experienced in the past. But we have learned much, and it will help us manage and navigate our way. The path might be paved with new ideas, but it will also be paved with Torah values and teachings that have guided us for ages. As Rav Kook (1865-1935) taught, “The old can be made new, and the new can be made holy.” From strength to strength, I’m grateful that we are walking this path, together.

L’Shalom,