Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein Assumes Presidency of Board of Rabbis

The Executive Committee of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California passed its gavel on February 16, 2015 to Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein, senior rabbi of University Synagogue, who will lead the membership organization of some 300 rabbis. Feinstein succeeds Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe Bernhard, who concluded two years’ service as Board of Rabbis President on December 31, 2014.

The Board of Rabbis continues to function under the auspices of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, as it has for more than 40 years.

Rabbi Morley Feinstein grew up on the Westside of Los Angeles and attended Beverly Hills High School. He attended the University of California, Berkeley where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors.

Ordained in 1981 at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Rabbi Feinstein served as the assistant and first associate rabbi of Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas. From 1987 to 2002, he served as senior rabbi of Temple Beth-El in South Bend, Indiana. During his tenure there, he received Indiana’s highest citizen honor – The Sagamore of the Wabash – from its governor for his efforts in promoting peace and justice. Named a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of Jerusalem’s Shalom Hartman Institute, Rabbi Feinstein brings his deep commitment and passion for Torah, filled with energy and a zest for learning.

He is married to Dr. Margarete Myers Feinstein, a historian and professor at Loyola Marymount University. They are blessed with four children – two sons, Aaron, a physician; Ari, a Master’s candidate in Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College; and twin daughters, Eliana and Renata, sixth graders at Paul Revere Charter Middle School.

As Rabbi Feinstein begins his tenure as President, he had the following to say, “The Board of Rabbis has had a long and venerable history. The goals of reaching within and beyond to make a better community, to build Jewish life, to support our Jewish homeland- these continue to be our responsibility, as we make a positive and sacred impact on the world in which we live.”