(photo by Deb Carroll, June 2016)
Rabbi David Steinberg
Rabbi David Steinberg assumed the role of spiritual leader of Temple Israel in August 2010, succeeding his friend and rabbinical school classmate, Rabbi Amy Bernstein.
A native of the outer boroughs and suburbs of New York City, Rabbi David earned a B.A. in Music from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987. After four years as a practicing attorney in Portland, Maine, he left law practice to study at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), where he was ordained in 1997.
He served as spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Israel in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania from 1996-98 (initially as a student rabbi) and as Hillel director for Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges in 1998-99.
From 1999 to 2005, Rabbi David served as spiritual leader of Reform congregation Temple Beth Israel in Plattsburgh, a small city in northeastern New York near the Quebec border. During that time, he was a member of the Montreal Board of Rabbis and was active in the Interfaith Council of Plattsburgh and Clinton County. He served as president of the ICPCC in 2004-05.
He subsequently served as Associate Rabbi at Burlington, Vermont's Conservative congregation, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue. During his five years there, Rabbi David served as that congregation’s Hebrew School principal, cantor and principal Torah reader, along with various rabbinic roles.
In June 2022, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by the RRC in honor of his 25 years of service in the rabbinate.
Rabbi David is a member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (in which he served as a member of its Board of Directors from 2018 to 2023) , the Minnesota Rabbinical Association, and the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition.
Rabbi David can be reached through Temple Israel's main phone number (218) 724-8857 or via e-mail at rabbidavid@jewishduluth.org.
