Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz

Congregation Adath Israel, San Francisco, CA

Sep 21, 2010

abbi Joshua Strulowitz was raised in North Miami Beach, FL and graduated from Hillel Community Day School. After studies at Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim in Jerusalem, he continued on to Yeshiva University where he graduated in 2001 cum laude with a B.A. in economics, an award for excellence in Talmudic studies and, later, semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 2005.

While at YU he was program director and co-founder of Panim, a college outreach program. He then spent two years at YU's Gruss Institute in Jerusalem."My time at YU was really influential in my decision to become a rabbi. I was there in the pre-CJF days, so finding opportunities to experience communal work was harder to come by, but they were able to provide opportunities, and we created some new opportunities, to work on college campuses and in different communities and see if this was the right work for me."

He continued on to TORCH, a community kollel in Houston, TX where he taught numerous classes throughout the community including at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Arriving just after the Ilan Ramon tragedy, he taught there and served a pastoral role for Jewish emplyees at NASA.

In September 2005, he began his post as Rabbi of Congregation Adath Israel, where he has become beloved by the members of the community and an important ambassador to the Bay Area Jewish community.

While in San Francisco, his shul has brought in a community kollel, established the Adath Israel Preschool and built the first eruv in San Francisco. He has also founded the "Jewish Ethics and the Internet" program, including a kick-off event held at the headquarters of Twitter in downtown San Francisco. "San Francisco is such a vibrant, dynamic city, and our community has begun to reflect that. We just try to be creative, and find a multitude of ways for people to come and experience our community. I think that if you keep doing good work, people notice and word spreads. You have to be patient and persevere, but I believe that Torah always sells, we just have to keep selling it."

Rabbi Strulowitz and his wife Bethany have three daughters: Tehila, 7; Tiferet 5; Meira 2. Bethany teaches Judaic studies at the Oakland Hebrew Day School.