Today is -

Rabbi

Rabbi Meir Goldstein grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona with his parents, brother, and grandparents.  After receiving a B.A. in cultural anthropology, he worked as an Americorps Vista volunteer facilitating reading programs for primary aged children in Eugene, Oregon.  The following year Rabbi Goldstein worked with homeless teenagers, doing street-outreach, running a men’s group, and teaching in a drop-in school.  Upon deciding to ground his work within the Jewish community, Rabbi Goldstein lived in Israel where he studied Hebrew, lived and volunteered with new immigrants, and developed relationships with some of the many different people who live in the land.  Moving back to the West, Rabbi Goldstein studied at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles where he received a Masters in Rabbinic Letters in 2003 and Rabbinic Ordination in 2006.

Since ordination, Rabbi Goldstein served as spiritual and communal leader of a 200-family synagogue, Bnai Zion Congregation and taught at Milken Community High School, the largest pluralistic Jewish high school in the United States. At Bnai Zion, he empowered congregants to take the ‘next step’ in their Jewish journey through reading Torah, leading prayer and other mitzvot.  Rabbi Goldstein taught on-going adult and youth education courses and founded annual Visiting Scholar weekends.  He was also instrumental in forming inter-religious ecumenical councils and an active participant in Clergy United Against Domestic Violence.

At Milken Community High School, Rabbi Goldstein was both a teacher and an advisor to middle school and high school aged youth.  There he brought his passion for making meaningful relationships to students and their families through on-going communication and commitment to academic excellence as they discover more about their Torah and traditions.  Rabbi Goldstein is proud to have been a part of such a great team, working together in partnership to constantly update and improve the on-campus community.

Rabbi Goldstein joined us at the Commack Jewish Center in July 2009, where he has become our spiritual and community leader.  He regularly teaches classes (both to adults and to youth), reads from Torah, gives sermons, visits congregants, and tries to bring his passion for community and relationship to our shul.

Rabbi Goldstein is married to Laura Goldstein, an accomplished musician and teacher.  Mrs. Goldstein is an amazing musician who often shares her talents with the community through her davening (leading worship services), teaching in the religious school, and through such programs as Harp and Havdallah and King David’s Harp Kabbalat Shabbat.  Their new puppy, Koofi, brings great joy to everyone who meets her.