About our Rabbi:
Rabbi Rick Brody is in his third year as the enthusiastic spiritual leader of the Ami Shalom community. Creative and caring, Rabbi Rick has a background in theater and history, a deep love for mythic interpretation, and a great passion for baseball. Rick has served or participated in Jewish communities that span a wide breadth of our people’s diversity in both age and ideology. Originally from Long Island, Rick is an alumnus of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel and a graduate of Yale University, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree. Rick attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), located in Wyncote, PA, which graduated him as a rabbi in the spring of 2002. At RRC, he received the Judith & Ira Eisenstein Scholarship, the Dorothy & Sidney Becker Scholarship, and was a CLAL Intern. Rick was also twice awarded the A. Walter Socolow Prize for outstanding essay on American Judaism—one exploring the role of the rabbi and educator in suicide prevention and the other offering an introduction to Reconstructionist Judaism. Rick spent 2 of his 5 years of rabbinical school in Jerusalem, studying at the Pardes Institute, Machon Schechter, and the Shalom Hartman Institute.
After becoming a rabbi and moving to Los Angeles, Rick served for two years as Rabbi-in-Residence & Director of Jewish Programming at Milken Community High School, a pluralistic college-preparatory day school. He has established himself as an active spokesperson for Reconstructionist Judaism on the regional scene, offering guest lectures at seminaries, universities, and other settings. Rick believes strongly in both inter-religious dialogue and promoting pluralism within the Jewish community. He is involved in several communal and social justice organizations: He participates in action opportunities with the Progressive Jewish Alliance and CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and on the Board of Governors of the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din of Southern California, through which he facilitates conversion to Judaism, a process of which he is an ardent advocate.
Of his various rabbinic experiences, Rick most loves serving as a congregational rabbi and is delighted to be involved in revitalizing the Jewish community of the San Gabriel Valley. He brings great energy to the services he leads and teaches Torah, prayers, and Jewish values in a way that is both fascinating and relevant. He has brought many innovations to the synagogue and is eager to continue working with congregants in enhancing the synagogue’s offerings. Rick is married to Rachel Kobrin, a student at the American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. It was Rachel’s interest in the rabbinate that brought the two of them to Los Angeles, where they currently reside with their enchanting three-year-old daughter, Noa Tiferet.