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Our Clergy

Senior Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar pursued a career in Jewish leadership from a very young age and continues a family tradition of music and leadership in the synagogue at Temple Shalom.  She graduated from Washington University in St.Louis with a B.A. in Jewish and Near Eastern Studies and a minor in music.  Rabbi Cantor Sklar earned a Master’s of Sacred Music and was invested as a cantor through the Hebrew Union College in 2005.  As a cantorial soloist and student cantor she served congregations in St. Louis, Missouri, Jerusalem, Israel, Fort Worth, Texas and here at Temple Shalom.  Rabbi Cantor Sklar has been a featured vocalist in concerts since her childhood and has performed in this community and across the United States and Israel.

Rabbi Cantor Sklar served Temple Shalom as cantorial intern since 2001 and was elected as full-time cantor of the synagogue in 2005 upon her ordination.  She was ordained as a Rabbi in June of 2018 and installed as Senior Rabbi of Temple Shalom in February of 2023.  

Rabbi Cantor Sklar is active in every facet of life at Temple Shalom, and pursues involvement in interfaith and social justice work in the community through Temple Shalom's partnership with CONECT - Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut.  She particularly cherishes the close relationships that she has been able to form with congregants over her years at Temple Shalom and thoroughly enjoys the positive and productive collaboration we have at Temple Shalom among our clergy, staff, and lay leadership.  Rabbi Cantor Sklar is passionate and committed to providing enriching experiences through worship, music, learning and social action that foster a deep and meaningful connection to Judaism for our congregants of all ages.  She resides in Westport with her husband, Rabbi Cantor Dan Sklar and their three children, Ari, Isaac and Jonah.  

Click here to email Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar

Click here to watch Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar's Sermons

Rabbi Jason Greenberg grew up in Newington, CT. As a teenager he loved singing, acting, playing the guitar, and actively participating in his synagogue’s youth group. In the years that followed, Jason earned a BS in Business Management with a minor in Spanish from The Ohio State University, and worked for nearly ten years before attending rabbinical school. Over that time Jason gained valuable work experience in the areas of community building, non-profit management, and social work with a concentration on children and adolescents.

In 2008-09, Jason spent a year in Israel participating in Young Judea’s WUJS program (World Union of Jewish Students) and studying at The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. When he returned from Israel, Jason spent a summer partaking in Middlebury College’s Hebrew Intensive Program. These experiences verified Jason’s desire to become a rabbi, and in the fall of 2009 he enrolled at The Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic, non-denominational seminary in Yonkers, NY.

Over the next eight years while working toward rabbinic ordination and a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies at AJR, Jason continued to develop professionally in the field.  This development included a two-year rabbinic internship at Sinai Free Synagogue in Mount Vernon NY, two years as a b’nai mitzvah officiant and tutor at Temple Beth Elohim in Brewster NY, and four years as the Director of Education at Temple Beth El in Monroe NY. Jason has a multi-talented partner, Traci, who is an elementary school music teacher, and two adorable sons, Jonah and Benjy. In his free time, Jason loves fishing, history, astronomy, tallit making, home renovation projects, and playing chess. 

Click here to email Rabbi Jason Greenberg

Click here to watch Rabbi Jason Greenberg's sermons

Rabbi Mark Lipson received his Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Sacred Music from the Hartt College of Music in 1973. In that year he was hired to be the first Cantor of Temple Shalom in Norwalk, Connecticut.  He then continued his studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.  There he received the Dr. Joseph Freundenthal Award, the Lawrence Avery Award and the Abraham Binder Memorial Award.  He was invested as Cantor in 1978.  In 1992 he began his rabbinic studies and was ordained in 1995.  After 22 years as Cantor at Temple Shalom, he was elected as Rabbi of the congregation.  In 2003 Rabbi Lipson received an Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew Union College for his years of contribution to the welfare of the Jewish community and Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Lipson has served on the Executive Board of the American Conference of Cantors and the American Reform Zionist Association.  He is a past president of the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music Alumni Association.  He served as an executive officer of the United Jewish Federation, served on the Chaplain's Advisory Committee of Sacred Heart University, and co-chaired the committee for the creation of the development of the Teachers Development Workshop for the synagogues and temples in Westport, Weston, Wilton and Norwalk.

Rabbi Lipson has also had extensive experience in music production, creating musical scores for PBS, ABC Television movies, Industrial films and a multimedia installation for the Baltimore Aquarium.  As a well-known composer of Jewish music he has recorded "Shiray Ami" Songs of My People, "Songs of the Synagogue" for Cantor, Choir and Orchestra (featuring the Temple Shalom Volunteer Choir) as well as his recent "Classic Rock Shabbat" featuring Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar, Temple Shalom's Junior Choir, and a rock band, "The Lost Tribe."  His liturgical compositions can be heard in synagogues throughout North America and have been published by Transcontinental Music.

Click here to email Rabbi Mark Lipson

Click here to watch Rabbi Mark Lipson's sermons

   
 

 

Wed, December 4 2024 3 Kislev 5785