Rabbi Rena Rifkin leads our downtown satellite community. 

Rabbi Rifkin joins us from Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, where she served as Director of Youth Education for the past decade. She previously held positions at Temple Emanu-El and the North Shore Synagogue. Ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, she also earned a Master’s degree in Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR.

A lifelong Reform Jew, Rabbi Rifkin is a proud product of URJ Eisner Camp, which she considers her true home. (She even adopted her family dog, Oogie, through Eisner’s puppy program!). Rabbi Rifkin’s interests include reading historical fiction, exploring New York’s bakeries, theater, shoe shopping, and cheering on the New York Yankees. She and her husband live with their children closer to downtown than uptown, making this role a particularly meaningful next chapter.