The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America is pleased to announce the continuation of our West Coast expansion with two new professionals joining the team this summer: Rabbi Philip Graubart as West Coast Vice President, and Rabbi Joshua Ladon as Bay Area Manager.
Rabbis Graubart and Ladon will join Michelle Stone, Los Angeles City Manager, and Rachel Allen, West Coast Program Coordinator, to complete our West Coast presence. SHI North America, which launched in 2010, has become a leader in sophisticated dialogue and study on major Jewish questions, and is recognized as a premiere applied think tank and educational resource center for North American Jewish community leaders. With the addition of these two professionals, the broad expansion of SHI programs and initiatives on the West Coast will continue to flourish.
Rabbi Philip Graubart joins SHI North America from Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, California, where has served for over 10 years and led the way in one of Southern California’s most innovative and successful congregations. Prior to that, he served congregations in New York and Massachusetts, and held volunteer leadership positions in numerous professional and philanthropic organizations.
Rabbi Graubart received his rabbinic degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, a BA in creative writing from Northwestern University, and an MA in Jewish literature from the University of Judaism. He has a master’s degree in International Relations from Hebrew University.
“The content produced by the Shalom Hartman Institute has influenced my rabbinate in profound ways, and I’m thrilled to be joining the organization at a time of unprecedented expansion on the West Coast,” Rabbi Graubart said. “As a rabbi I have always gravitated toward storytelling. Hartman scholars invite us to form Jewish narratives and see ourselves as part of the story, and I’m excited about bringing these narratives to life in my community.”
Rabbi Graubart has published five books, written for the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, and San Diego Union Tribune among others. His latest novel, a murder-mystery, will be published this fall.
Rabbi Joshua Ladon joins SHI North America from San Francisco’s Jewish Community High School of the Bay, where he most recently served as Dean of Student Life and Jewish Life with great distinction, including receiving the Diller Award for outstanding teaching.
He received a BA from Washington University in St. Louis and subsequently lived in Jerusalem for seven years, completing an MA in Jewish Thought at Tel Aviv University. He received rabbinic ordination from the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is currently a Doctoral student in Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
“I have long had a passion for the ethical agenda of the Jewish people in North America and am excited about being able to advance this work with Shalom Hartman in the Bay area,” Rabbi Ladon said.
“Joining the Shalom Hartman Institute feels like a homecoming I have been deeply involved in developing a Shalom Hartman iEngage curriculum for high school students, and look forward to bringing that background to the table.”
Shalom Hartman Institute of North America is “thrilled to welcome Phil and Josh to our growing and talented team,” said Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer, President of SHI North America.
“Phil brings the kind of sophisticated and dynamic leadership that we feel can steward our West Coast relationships and envision what is possible for years to come. Josh’s deep understanding of Hartman Torah and his network of relationships in the Bay Area will be great assets to our work, and like Phil, he brings a wonderful temperament and demeanor to our overall team.”
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