Our Community, Our Future is our process of seeking and welcoming our new Senior Rabbi. Our Leo Baeck Temple community members are at the heart of this process. On this page, we provide updates on the status of our transition.

The next step toward the future of Leo Baeck Temple has been completed! On July 1, 2027, Rabbi Lisa Berney will take her place as LBT’s fourth senior rabbi, as our congregation embarks upon its 80th year.

The congregational meeting, attended by hundreds of LBT members, began with a personal statement by Rabbi Berney, followed by a question-and-answer session in which members asked thoughtful questions. The conversation that followed allowed LBT members to experience the many reasons our Seeking Our Sacred Partner Committee, our Executive Committee, and our Board of Trustees so enthusiastically brought forward the recommendation of Rabbi Berney to our membership.

Earlier this evening, in accordance with our bylaws and operating procedures, our community joined in broad and joyful affirmation to select Rabbi Lisa Berney as our next Senior Rabbi.

The rest, as they say ... is the future.

Mazel tov and congratulations to Rabbi Berney and her family. Congratulations are also in order to the Leo Baeck Temple congregation – we showed up and joined together for this historic moment. And, for those of you unable to attend, we felt your presence through advance communication, our many conversations during our synagogue-wide listening campaign, and the many warm wishes of support received throughout this process. Click here to watch the recording of the meeting, so that you can witness this historic evening in our temple’s history.

What’s next? Ahead of us will be multiple opportunities to celebrate Rabbi Chasen, and the Leo Baeck Temple legacy he has created and nurtured, as he prepares to step down as Senior Rabbi next summer. And then we will walk our path together with Rabbi Berney, as the next chapter of the Leo Baeck Temple story is written.

The Leo Baeck Temple community is never stronger than at moments like this. I congratulate and thank all of you for your participation in writing this chapter of the Leo Baeck Temple story.

Here’s to the next 80 years!!! (And I’ll see you all then!)

The second step of Our Community, Our Future, is literally to seek our next sacred partner.  We have now begun the search process to identify our next senior rabbi.   The Seeking Our Sacred Partner Committee will use everything we learned from Visioning Our Tomorrow as our guide.   

The first step of Our Community, Our Future is Visioning Our Tomorrow, in which our community identified who we are today, what we value for our future, and what is most important to us in a senior rabbi.  Our listening campaign was a huge success, gathering valuable information, while bringing our community together.

Members of our Visioning Our Tomorrow Committee led 26 separate listening sessions with a total of 38 listening groups over a six-month period. 265 members of our community participated, encompassing all ages and all corners of our community. Thank you to all our participants.

Check below to view the various messages that have been shared with our congregation throughout this process: