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Meet Rabbi Berman

Introducing Rabbi Courtney Berman

Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom is pleased to announce that Rabbi Courtney Berman has been hired to serve as the first settled rabbi of Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom beginning July 1, 2022.
 
Rabbi Berman grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  She earned her B.A. in Child Psychology and Jewish Studies from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and entered the Rabbinical Program at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), where she started her studies with the Year in Israel program in Jerusalem.  She spent the next few years at the Cincinnati campus before transferring to the Los Angeles campus, where she was ordained in May of 2015. 
 
During her time at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Berman served congregations in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Piqua, Ohio.  She was a chaplain intern at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland and a rabbinic intern at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  Rabbi Berman spent her first year after ordination serving as a visiting rabbi for a congregation in Sherman, Texas. 
 
In 2016, Rabbi Berman moved to Ormond Beach, Florida and became the rabbi of Temple Beth-El, where she will remain until June of this year.  While in Ormond Beach, Rabbi Berman has served the co-located Reform and Conservative congregations of Temple Beth-El and Temple Israel.  An important part of her job has been to build bridges between the two congregations and between Reform and Conservative practice. 
Rabbi Berman structures her rabbinate around the fundamental belief that every interaction provides an opportunity to form or strengthen meaningful connections, whether it is human connection, a feeling of closeness to God or one’s Judaism, or the experience of discovering the deep messages of one’s own soul.  She shapes worship services, lifecycle events, classes, and pastoral interactions around this deeply-held belief and finds great meaning in giving a modern voice to ancient Jewish laws and traditions.
Rabbi Berman and her spouse Jeffrey Berman have been journeying through life together since they met in college.  They have three boys:  Micah (4), Gavi (2), and Zeke.  Zeke was born on November 1, 2021, the same day Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom officially came into being.  The family hopes Zeke does not mind sharing his birthday!
Rabbi Berman feels honored to have been chosen to serve Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom starting this July.  She recognizes Youngstown is a community with a rich history and looks forward to learning the stories of our community through our congregants and community partners. She is excited to become part of the fabric of our community moving forward.
We are eager to welcome her to Congregation Ohev Beth Sholom and Youngstown, Ohio.
Members of the Settled Rabbi search committee included Melissa Bateman, Nancy Burnett (co-chair), Shari Della Penna, Beth Holloway, Mark Huberman, Booker Kessler (co-chair), Elliot Legow (co-chair), Beverly Nathan, Kandy Rawl, Hunter Thomas, and Kim Zeidenstein.
Thu, April 18 2024 10 Nisan 5784