Rabbi Josh Broide Is First Director of Community Engagement for Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County
Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) November 21, 2014 -- The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County has announced that Rabbi Josh Broide has joined its professional staff as the organization’s first Director of Community Engagement. The Federation serves the greater Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach communities.
Rabbi Broide has served the local Jewish community in a number of professional roles since moving here in 2000. Most recently, he was Outreach Rabbi for Boca Raton Synagogue, where he previously served as Executive Director and Youth & Teen Rabbi. Rabbi Broide has also served as local Director of the Jewish Student Union and as Rabbi at Hillel of Broward & Palm Beach.
“I could not be more pleased and excited to announce that our Federation has taken another important step toward bringing our community together to care for each other and our people with pride, joy and a sense of belonging,” said Matthew C. Levin, Federation President and CEO. “Rabbi Broide is renowned for his remarkable, innovative work to personally connect with Jewish residents of all ages from throughout South Palm Beach County, reaching out to those unaffiliated and inspiring those already involved to connect more deeply with Jewish life.”
Levin continued, “Over the last two years, our Federation has been dedicated to building dynamic new partnerships and strengthening existing ones with our synagogues, agencies and organizations, to the benefit of our entire Jewish community. Rabbi Broide has already established a strong, connecting Federation presence with pivotal roles at events of all sizes, in leadership development, at our rabbi lunches, on our Planning & Allocations Committee and Outreach Task Force, on the March of the Living, and as a vital advisor in many areas of our work. With his unique combination of education, skill, experience and magnetic presence, Rabbi Broide is ready to step in and bring our community even closer together.”
“The creation of the Director of Community Engagement position is a major milestone in the Federation’s efforts to reach deeper into the Jewish Community,” said Aimee Kaye, President of Sageview Consulting, Inc., who heads Human Resources operations for the Federation and several of its beneficiary agencies.
Born in Capetown, South Africa, Rabbi Broide spent his later childhood in New Jersey and moved to Boca Raton in 2000 when tapped by Rabbi Kenneth Brander to be Youth and Teen Director for Boca Raton synagogue with his wife, Simone. He’s been involved with Federation ever since. “My first day on the job, Rabbi Brander brought me to Federation and told me to be sure to ‘bring all the new families here.’”
As part of his outreach and engagement for the unaffiliated, Rabbi Broide will continue to direct the nationally recognized Boca Raton Jewish Experience through the Federation, an organization he founded with his wife, Simone four years ago “to give every Jewish person in South Palm Beach County a positive Jewish experience on their terms.” A tireless promoter of what he calls “all good things Jewish,” Rabbi Broide will also be sharing information about our community through Federation’s social media vehicles. His work will also include leadership development for Federation as he begins working with our Jewish Community Leadership Institute.
Rabbi Broide will also provide chaplaincy services through Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services at hospitals and client-centered events, and work with the agency’s volunteer parachaplaincy program.
“Rabbi Broide is truly a gift to our community,” says Larry Feldman, King David Society Co-chair and Chair of the Marketing Committee for Federation. “As I quickly learned on last fall’s Leadership Mission to Israel, he has an amazing ability to connect with people and he’s never met a stranger. His brilliant smile, vibrant energy, positive attitude and joy in his heart are truly contagious. As my grandmother would say, he’s a gutte neshama, a good soul. We are blessed to have him here to introduce the beauty and wisdom of our tradition to those who forgot or never experienced it, or to inspire others to learn and do more.”
Rabbi Broide looks forward to devoting himself to “bringing the community into our Federation and bringing Federation into the community for the benefit of all our Jewish residents and institutions. I’m excited to see how everyone can collaborate even further, bringing our resources together and discovering and developing new ones to strengthen this amazing Jewish community.”
He explains his remarkable drive, “when I see people not connected to Jewish life and community get so on fire, I just get energized to do more and more. I love this community, and it’s still in its infancy. Wait til you see what’s coming.”
Rabbi Broide is a recipient of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s James and Marjorie Baer Outstanding Young Leadership Award, as well as the prestigious Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. He was recognized by the Jewish Federations of North America as a Jewish Community Hero for his contribution to the Jewish Community and the ideal of Tikkun Olam. Rabbi Broide also received the National Jewish Outreach Program’s (NJOP) Leslie Nelkin Special Service Award for his commitment to outreach.
Rabbi Broide received his Rabbinical Ordination and earned a Masters degree in Advanced Talmudic Law from the Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Maryland. He also holds Masters degrees in both Special Education and School Administration & Supervision from Johns Hopkins University. Rabbi Broide additionally received a certificate in Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife, Simone, live in Boca Raton with their six children.
Andrea Schuver, Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, +1 561-852-3278, [email protected]
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