Our Staff

At Central Synagogue

Rabbi David Kalb
Rabbi David Kalb
Director of Learning & Innovation
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(212) 838-5122 ext. 4031

A true pluralist, Rabbi David Kalb works and learns with the entire Jewish Community and beyond, by linking tradition with modern experience. His goal is to bring Judaism into all aspects of life, believing that Judaism has to be a holistic experience that can operate in the real world. Rabbi Kalb approaches scholarship as a living part of Jewish experience.

Before coming to Central, Rabbi Kalb served as director of Jewish education for the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at 92nd Street Y, where he directed and taught a variety of different learning programs for a range of ages. He also officiated at life cycle events and served as a resource to the entire professional staff and lay leadership of 92Y.

Rabbi Kalb is a member of the Ecumenical Advisory Board to the Office of Minority Health of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York, an associate faculty member of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and a senior rabbinic fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Past academic experiences also include adjunct faculty member at the Academy for Jewish Religion at Touro College and at Norwalk Community College, and guest lecturer at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School.

He has lectured at a number of different synagogues, federations, Jewish community centers and institutions including the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, the Wexner Alumni of Metro North New Jersey, the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, JCC of Manhattan, Limmud NY, Limmud UK, Alma NY, Lishmah NY, Florence Melton School, Kollel at Hebrew Union College, Edah, JOFA and the Yemei Iyun on Tanakh at YCT Rabbinical School. He has also spoken at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building Harlem.

His articles have appeared in the New York Jewish Week, JTA, the Jerusalem Report, Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, , and the New Jersey Jewish Standard. He has also blogged for Jewcy.com. He has also directed a number of research projects and developed curricula for a variety of diverse Jewish institutions on pluralism, politics, education, social action, Israel, Zionism, and end-of-life issues. He is currently writing a book called New Paradigms in Spirituality.

Rabbi Kalb was one of the founders of Yavneh, a minyan on the Upper East Side, and served as its rabbi for three years. He is a member of the Synagogue 3000 Working Group, a select group of Jewish leaders who are committed to the establishment of transformative spiritual communities. Rabbi Kalb was one of thirty Jewish leaders who were chosen to participate in the NYConversation—Jewish in New York, sponsored by the New York Jewish Week, the Conversation is a project in which Jewish leaders from very diverse backgrounds talk about the future of Jewish life in New York and what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century. He has also participated in Jesna’s FutureTense Roundtable, a forum for important leaders in the Jewish community.

Rabbi Kalb received his B.A. through the Joint Program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat. He has also studied at Hebrew University, Shalom Hartman Institute, and the Meorot Fellowship.