CONGREGATION SHERITH ISRAEL CLERGY
Rabbi Lawrence W. Raphael is the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Sherith Israel. Prior to becoming the Rabbi at Sherith Israel, he was the first Director of the Department of Adult Jewish Growth at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations from 1996 to 2003. Rabbi Raphael created programs of Torah study for individuals and congregations. In addition, he developed and directed adult spirituality and study retreats in the United States and Israel. Two popular programs in the Bay Area were the summer Kallah at UC Santa Cruz and "Sukkot in Sonoma—A Jewish Food and Wine Experience" at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa.
Rabbi Raphael has been a leader in training Reform rabbis, cantors, and educators. From 1973 to 2003, he was on the faculty of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He was instrumental in founding and supervising a weekly soup kitchen and coordinating the design and construction of the College's building on West Fourth Street in Manhattan. Until 1996, he was a Dean at the College and, between 1993—1996, he also served as National Director of Continuing Education for the Rabbinic Alumni Association of the College and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
In addition, for 30 years Rabbi Raphael led an annual congregation at the High Holidays for hundreds of young adults and college students. The participatory services, sponsored by the Metropolitan Conference of the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods and the College, created a unique community for people building their adult lives in the midst of a busy city.
A native Californian, Rabbi Raphael grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the UC Santa Cruz (1967). He founded and became the first president of the UC Santa Cruz Alumni Association. Rabbi Raphael was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati (1974) and earned a Ph.D. in Leadership and Higher Education from New York University (1990).
He is the editor of two volumes of Jewish mystery fiction. Mystery Midrash, now in its third printing, was published in 1999 and Criminal Kabbalah in 2001. He has published articles on such diverse topics as Bob Dylan and Rabbinic messianism, the future of the Reform rabbinate, ethical wills, and personal spirituality.
Rabbi Raphael and his wife, Terrie, who is a partner in a consulting firm specializing in planning and communications for not-for-profit agencies, are the parents of Matthew, Andrew, and Rachel.
Rabbi Raphael believes that when the members of a synagogue community study and pray together, they are a vehicle for Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. "Join me," he writes, "under the graceful dome of Sherith Israel to gather strength from our tradition and hope for the future."