Rabbi David Kalb

Rabbi David Kalb is the Rabbi of the Jewish Learning Center of New York www.jewishlearningcenterny.org where he is responsible for the creative, educational, spiritual and programmatic direction of the organization. Rabbi Kalb is committed to pluralism, open mindedness and likes to work and learn with the entire Jewish Community and beyond, by linking tradition with modern experience. His goal is to bring Judaism into all aspects of life, believing that Judaism has to be a holistic experience that can operate in the real world. Rabbi Kalb approaches scholarship as a living part of Jewish experience. He is also an advocate for social justice.

He has spoken and taught at many important Jewish institutions including, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, Samuel Bronfman Foundation, the Wexner Alumni of Metro North New Jersey, 92nd Street Y, the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, Chautauqua – Everett Jewish Life Center, JCC of Manhattan, Limmud NY, Limmud UK, JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance), the YCT (Yeshivat Chovevei Torah) Rabbinical School, YCT Rabbinical School Yemei Iyun on Tanakh, Florence Melton School, Alma NY, Lishmah NY, Kollel at Hebrew Union College, Central Synagogue and Edah. Rabbi Kalb has also spoken at the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building both in Harlem for World Aids Day, the Connecticut State Capital and the Hudson River Museum in Westchester. He was also a featured speaker for the New York City Opera and 92YTribeca Symposium on Esther, the opera. Rabbi

Kalb represented the Jewish Learning Center of New York as a guest at the 2015 White House Hanukkah Reception.

Rabbi Kalb serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Yeshivat Maharat and the Manhattan Interfaith Advisory Group – Office of Faith Based Initiatives – Center for Health Equity NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He previously served as a member of the Ecumenical Advisory Board to the Office of Minority Health of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York. He has also been involved in interfaith dialogue with leaders of other faith communities. Rabbi Kalb is a member JREC, the Jewish Religious Equality Coalition at the American Jewish Committee (AJC). He is also a part of the Rabbis' Roundtable at AJC.

Rabbi Kalb is an Associate faculty member of CLAL – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Past academic experiences also include: Serving on the educational advisory board of the WNET/BBC documentary ‘The Story of the Jews.’ Adjunct faculty member at the Academy for Jewish Religion, Touro Colleague and at Norwalk Community College. He has directed a number of research projects and developed curricula for a variety of diverse Jewish institutions on pluralism, politics, education, social action, and end of life issues.

Rabbi Kalb is also an avid tour guide of Jewish New York. He has designed and led a number of walking tours such as Jewish Gangsters of the Lower East Side, Hipsters and Chasidim of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Jewish Harlem for such institutions as the Lower East Conservancy and Central Synagogue.

His articles have appeared in the Huffington Post, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, New York Jewish Week, JTA, the Jerusalem Report, Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, Long Island Jewish World and the New Jersey Jewish Standard. He has also blogged for Jewcy.com. Six thousand people subscribe via email to his teachings and over twenty seven hundred people view his ideas through Facebook. He has over seventeen hundred people following him on Twitter.

Rabbi Kalb was a member of the Synagogue 3000 Working Group, a select group of Jewish leaders who are committed to the establishment of transformative spiritual communities. Rabbi Kalb was one of 30 Jewish leaders who were chosen to participate in The NYConversation – Jewish in New York, sponsored by The New York Jewish Week, The Conversation is a project in which Jewish leaders from very diverse backgrounds talk about the future of Jewish life in New York and what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century. He has also participated in Jesna’s FutureTense Roundtable, a forum for important leaders in the Jewish community. Rabbi Kalb was chosen to be in dialogue with the Ruskay Fellows at the Ruskay Institute for Jewish Professional Development at UJA-Federation of New York.

Rabbi Kalb did his undergraduate work at the Joint Program - Columbia University/List College and his rabbinic studies at Yeshivat Hamivtar, receiving Smeikha (Ordination) from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chief Rabbi of Efrat. He has also studied at Hebrew University, and is a graduate of the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a three-year (summers and video conferencing during the year) intensive fellowship program that immerses an elite cadre of 25-30 North American rabbis in the highest levels of Jewish learning. Rabbi Kalb was also a member the Meorot Fellowship.

Previous to his current position Rabbi Kalb served as the Director of Jewish Learning and Innovation at Central Synagogue. Before that he was the Director of Jewish Education at the Bronfman Center of Jewish Life at 92nd Street Y.

Rabbi Kalb can be reached at ravkalb@hotmail.com