Rabbi Marci R. Bloch is proud to be joining the Temple Dor Dorim Community in July of 2020. Her gifts are many, but she particularly enjoys pastoral care, Jewish healing, and creative ritual. She has great passion for family education, life-long learning, and working with youth and young adults. Above all, she loves creating sacred relationships with others, inspiring people to live meaningfully and grow toward their best selves. She encourages people to develop their souls by actively engaging in tikun olam (repairing the world), mitzvot, and relationship with God.

 

Prior to coming to Dor Dorim, Rabbi Bloch served as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs, Florida. She was involved in all aspects of congregational life. At Beth Orr, she developed innovative Shabbat worship and created “Kesher” (a high school program for 8th-12th graders). After the Parkland shooting, she was active in bringing healing to the community. She is especially proud of having integrated L’taken, a Religious Action Center Social Justice program for teens, into their Confirmation experience, and of helping Temple Beth Orr become a Brit Olam congregation---a community committed to Social Justice. Rabbi Bloch also served as the Associate Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton for twelve years. Prior to that she served as the Assistant Rabbi at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation in Indiana for two years after her ordination from Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, in 2003.

 

Prior to rabbinical school, Rabbi Bloch received a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Certificate in Judaic Studies and Jewish Communal Service from the University of Michigan. She also holds a B.A. in Psychology from Michigan State University.

 

Rabbi Bloch has served as a board member for Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Her innovative programs have been published in Reform Judaism Magazine as well as the URJ Outreach Manual. Rabbi Bloch’s Good Night Shabbat, Mommy Minyan, and Young Adult programs have earned her national recognition as a three-time URJ Belin Award recipient. In addition, she has won the URJ Incubator Grant. Rabbi Bloch has also been invited to present at a number of URJ Biennials on both a national and regional level.

 

Rabbi Bloch, originally from West Bloomfield, MI, is married to Jason Epstein, a native to Cleveland, Ohio. In her leisure time, she enjoys movies, traveling, exercising, and Broadway musicals. More than anything, she loves spending time with her daughters, Maya and Yael, who are her constant teachers. She looks forward to sharing her passion and love for Judaism with you.