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Connecting with Ohabei Shalom Clergy : Rabbi John Franken 
Rabbi John Franken joins the Ohabei Shalom community following five years at Temple Israel in St. Louis where he introduced services that aspire to be spiritual, participatory, joyful and fun. Meaningful worship, he explains, is “essential to creating an ethos in which everyone feels emotionally, spiritually and intellectually swept up in the sacred life and destiny of the Jewish people.” He is excited to join the TOS community which shares his outlook and passion. He was also drawn by the congregation’s warmth, menschlichkeit, concern for social justice, and culture of caring and inclusion.As a rabbinic student, Rabbi Franken divided his studies between New York and Jerusalem where he was a fellow at the Hebrew University. In addition to rabbinic ordination, he holds degrees in Hebrew Literature (M.A., Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion), law (J.D., University of Maryland, with honor), and Political Science (B.A., Tufts University, summa cum laude). In his previous post, Rabbi Franken was especially active in outreach, social justice, youth and adult education, Israel engagement, and caring community projects. He also served as Chair of the Adult Institute of Jewish Studies, Vice President and Treasurer of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association, and adjunct professor of Jewish law at the St. Louis University School of Law. An avid traveler, Rabbi Franken has visited 47 countries and served Jewish communities in Britain, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, and the United States. He enjoys the outdoors, all forms of Jewish learning, and the fine arts. The rabbi is delighted to be returning to his native New England where his family stretches back more than 150 years. Clergy : Cantor Randall Schloss 
Temple Ohabei Shalom is proud to welcome Cantor Randall Schloss, his wife, Leah, and their daughters Sonya (2) and Maya (5) to our Temple Ohabei Shalom Family. Cantor Schloss most recently was the Cantor of the Hebrew Tabernacle in Washington Heights in New York City. Previously, he served as the Cantorial Intern at Central Synagogue in New York, Temple Sinai in Tenafly, NJ and Bnai Israel in Southbury, CT. He has also been a soloist at Park East Synagogue, Sutton Place Synagogue, Metropolitan Synagogue, and the Manhattan and Riverdale JCCs in New York, Sulam Yaakov in Zichron Yaakov, Israel and Kehillat Har El in Jerusalem, Israel.
Cantor Schloss received his investiture as a Cantor and a Masters Degree in Sacred Music from the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He also received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
After a varied career in music as a classical singer both on the opera stage and in concert, as a teacher of voice and music theory and as a choral conductor, Cantor Schloss began his journey into the world of Jewish music as a singer and composer. Last year he composed his first extended setting of Shabbat evening liturgy, Avodat Hayom, which combines elements of eastern European nusach and chazzanut, Israeli and Sephardic folk music, classical and twentieth century Reform repertoire, and contemporary pop and jazz.
Cantor Schloss looks forward to sharing his combined love of Judaism and music with the Ohabei Shalom Community.
Clergy : Rabbi Emerita, Emily Gopen Lipof 
Rabbi Lipof is the first woman in the United States to be named Senior Rabbi of a major congregation. In 1988, she was called to our pulpit, where she has been instrumental in revitalizing our congregation with her innovative programs, spitiuality, and inclusiveness.
An educator at heart, Rabbi Lipof founded the Temple Shalom Nursery School in Newton. She served as principal of the High School for Jewish Studies and was the director and teacher of an adult education workshop at Brandeis University.
She has been a visiting professor at Dartmouth, Emmanuel and Boston Colleges and lectures at prestigious institutions and gatherings throughout the country. Here at Ohabei Shalom, she has been the guiding force in the founding of our Ansin Religious School.
Even before her rabbinic ordination, she was deeply involved in Jewish life. She chaired a Russian-Jewish wedding at Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill, where sixty Russian couples, denied a Jewish marriage in the former Soviet Union, were introduced to Judaism and married in a community ceremony.
Among her many secular commitments, Rabbi Lipof served as a trustee of the University of Massachusetts and has long been involved in politics, where she managed the successful election campaigns of several candidates. Her other community activities have included: The Foundation for Racial, Ethnic and Religious Harmony, the Human Rights Commission Advisory Board for the City of Newton and the Governor’s Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
The Jewish community of Greater Boston and beyond is well aware of our rabbi’s uniqueness and accomplishments: She has been honored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies with their annual Rabbinic Award, by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with their Outstanding Service Award, and by Israel Bonds National Board, which chose her as one of fifty rabbis in the United States to receive the coveted Golden Shofar Award.
Her original Haggadah, illustrated by her late husband, Michael, is now in its seventh printing and enjoys great popularity.
Rabbi Lipof is the mother of five and grandmother of ten. |
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info@ohabei.org | 1187 Beacon Street | Brookline, MA 02446 | Tel: 617.277.6610
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