From the boardroom to the bimah.

After a long, successful career on Wall Street, where I applied my creative energies and my coaching and judgment capabilities to leading hundreds of investment bankers and to advising some of the world's largest companies on their most critical strategic problems, I woke up one day in my 60's and realized that my path for finding true joy in the latter stages of my life was my Judaism. Among the happiest moments of my life were those spent immersed in modern Hebrew learning, preparing to read Torah almost every week in synagogue, studying Torah, and immersing myself in Hebrew prayer. And the best way for me to integrate these pillars of positivity in my life was to make the somewhat unusual decision for a person in his mid-60s to become a rabbi.

Over the course of my three years of smicha preparation at the Pluralistic Rabbinic Seminary, I came to the realization that becoming a rabbi for me was less about mastering a body of knowledge, and more about creating the foundation for excitement in ongoing Jewish learning. Was not about self-realization but rather about the sheer joy of giving of myself to others. Was not about talking but rather about listening. Was not about knowing but rather about knowing that I didn't know…and that that was okay…even better than okay.

Now, people — friends, congregants, former Wall Street colleagues, even my children — ask me all of the time questions like "what kind of rabbi" am I going to be or "what are you going to do with your smicha ?" And they are looking for a concrete answer.

My answer is far less about what I'm going to do and far more about the person I hope to be as I age…and the willingness — even eagerness — to accept that somehow God, the universe, whatever one wants to call it, is guiding me on a path of deep meaning, purpose and goodness. As we say every morning at our zoom minyan, "Blessed are you God, who guides us on our path" (hamachin m'zadeh gaver). And that path for me is going to be — paraphrasing the prophet Micha — to do justice, love goodness and walk humbly with God.

Studying to become an ordained rabbi at 68 has been a truly humbling experience. To realize how much there is to learn and how little time I have to do it can feel a little daunting.

But you'll see on this website the different bespoke ways I hope to walk humbly in the world as a rabbi. If any of these are meaningful to you, let's talk voice to voice, face to face.