Rabbi Claudio Kupchik Rabbi@srjc.org 

We welcome Rabbi Claudio Kupchik and his family, wife Ann and sons Jacob and Simon to Shelter Rock the Shabbat of September 6-7, 2024. 

Rabbi Kupchik was most recently the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth El of Cedarhurst, our Nassau County neighbor to the south, which had been his pulpit since 2017. His leadership there in adult education and in responding to the pandemic with virtual engagement efforts were recognized with The Schechter Award from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Over three decades, he earlier had led several other congregations in the New York Metro Region and in Canada, where he was effective as a community unifier during crises such as Hurricane Sandy with his congregation in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.

The Rabbi was born, raised and first educated in Argentina, before emigrating to the United States. He graduated from the Buenos Aires Medical School as a Doctor of Medicine before following his heart to begin rabbinical studies, first at the Seminario Rabbinico Latinamericano in Buenos Aires, then at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York for a master’s degree in Rabbinics and Talmudic Studies. In 2017, the JTS also awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity. In recent years, he has taught Talmud virtually, to students of the Heschel Rabbinic School of the same Buenos Aires seminary, which serves all of Latin American. Just in the past year, he also participated in a scholars’ program of the Vatican Library in the study of medieval Hebrew manuscripts.

Rabbi Kupchik enjoys using his fine voice, and often can be heard interweaving music with prayer from the bimah. Let us all heartily welcome Rabbi Kupchik and his family! There will be multiple opportunities during September for Shelter Rockers to get to know him. We look forward to his leading the High Holiday Services, as well as leading our synagogue community to new heights.

Hazzan Larry B Goller Cantor@srjc.org

Hazzan Larry Goller graduated from the Cantors Institute (now the H.L. Miller Cantorial School) of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, receiving a diploma in Hazzanut and a Masters degree in Sacred Music, as well as a Masters degree in Jewish Education from the Seminary's Graduate School. Hazzan Goller was born in Brooklyn and attended yeshivot and day schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx. His undergraduate years were spent at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.

Hazzan Goller has had an extensive full-time cantorial career, plus diverse, professional experience outside the Jewish world. He spent 17 years as Cantor at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, a flagship Conservative synagogue in the Chicago area. His major areas of focus have included teaching, especially synagogue skills, to a broad spectrum of synagogue membership, ages 8-80, and encouraging and supporting participation in synagogue services in a variety of ways. Previous pulpits have included Congregation Shaare Zedek in New York City and Congregation B'nai Israel in Millburn, NJ.

Before "hearing his call" to the Cantorate, Hazzan Goller worked in the corporate world as a computer analyst and consultant; his last position was as Assistant Vice-President at Prudential Securities on Wall Street. He was also active in UJA-Federation of New York and was Associate Chair of their Leadership Development Division. He has served as Cantor-in-Residence at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and an instructor at the annual North American Jewish Choral Festival, held in recent years in Stamford, CT. 

Hazzan Goller is currently serving as a Chaplain at St. Francis Hospital here in Roslyn. He completed a Residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL, and has served as chaplain for several hospitals in the Chicago area, as well as for Tikvah: Jewish Chaplaincy Initiative. He has achieved the status of Board Certified Chaplain, receiving professional certification from Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains.

Hazzan Goller has three children: Amalia (Mali), Davida, and Julia. He enjoys watching sports, playing tennis, skiing, ice skating, reading, and cooking.

For Shabbat Shirah melodies and information click HERE.

For Megillat Esther files click HERE. 

For Pesach files click HERE. 

Rabbi Emeritus Dr Martin S. Cohen EmeritusRabbi@srjc.org

Martin Samuel Cohen was born and raised in New York City, where he received his B.A. summa cum laude from the City University of New York and where he was ordained as rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1978. In addition to his ordination, Rabbi Cohen earned a Ph.D. in the history of ancient Judaism from JTS, which degree was awarded to him in 1982. The recipient of post-doctoral fellowships at the Hebrew University in 1983 and at Harvard University in 1993, Rabbi Cohen has also lectured on the history of religion at Hunter College of the City University of New York and taught Bible and Talmud both at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York and at the Institute for Jewish Studies attached to the University of Heidelberg in Germany. In 1986, Rabbi Cohen left Europe for Canada, where he accepted the pulpit of the Beth Tikvah Congregation in Richmond, British Columbia. In 1999, he left Canada to assume the pulpit of Congregation Eilat in Mission Viejo, California, the position he left in 2002 to become the rabbi of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn, New York, where he completed twenty-two years of service in June of 2024.

In addition to his work as teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Cohen is an author and has published two scientific studies in the history of pre-kabbalistic Jewish mysticism, four novels and four books of essays, including the Hebrew-language Sefer Ha‘ikarim Livnei Zemanenu, as well as his own 2004 edition of the Book of Psalms, called Our Haven and our Strength: The Book of Psalms in New Translation. More recently, Rabbi Cohen has published the two-volume prayer book Siddur Tzur Yisrael, Zot Nechemati for the house of mourning, a children’s book called Riding the River of Peace, and The Boy on the Door on the Ox, an exploration of the relationship between Torah study and service in the congregational rabbinate. From 1997 to 2000, he served as chairman of the Publications Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly and has for the last dozen years chaired the editorial board of the quarterly journal, Conservative Judaism. Most recently, Rabbi Cohen served as senior editor of the 2012 landmark volume defining Conservative Jewish life, The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews, and is currently at work on his own Torah translation and commentary.

An avid amateur pianist and a great lover of dogs, Rabbi Cohen is married and the father of two sons and a daughter.

Click here to visit Rabbi Cohen's blog to read his weekly email, or contact rabbiemeritus@srjc.org to receive to your in box. 

Rabbi Emeritus Myron Fenster z”l

Rabbi Michael Wasserman (1984-1985)
Rabbi Elliot Pachter (1985-1987)
Rabbi Lee Buckman (1987-1990)
Rabbi Howard Stecker (1990-1996)

Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn (1997-2000)
Rabbi David Weizman (2000-2002)
Rabbi Adam Watstein (2004-2006)
Rabbi Hillel Skolnick (2006-2009)

Rabbi Philip Ohriner (2009-2010)
Rabbi Mitchell Berkowitz (2014-2017)
Rabbi Zevi Lowenberg (2017-2020)