CLAL Faculty
Rabbi David Kalb
Rabbi David Kalb is a scholar, teacher, and activist. Not one to just “talk the talk,” he puts himself on the line, re-vitalizing Jewish life in the process. An advocate for social justice, he brings a new level of awareness to Jewish identity, linking tradition with modern experience.
Rabbi Kalb, a Teaching Fellow at CLAL, has a long history of connecting spirituality and scholarship with social action. From marching for Soviet Jewry to protesting the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Rabbi Kalb believes that being Jewish means taking a stand, and has appeared on and in major national and international media as a voice against intolerance.
Well-versed in ancient Jewish texts and contemporary sources, Rabbi Kalb approaches scholarship as a living part of Jewish experience. A popular educator, he has created curricula, developed programs, and taught extensively. His current project looks at how pluralism affects Jewish education, and how a more open structure might encourage greater questioning, creativity, and reasoning in the learning process.
Prior to joining CLAL, Rabbi Kalb was the Rabbi of Beit Chaverim Synagogue in Westport, Connecticut. During his eight-year tenure, he increased this Modern Orthodox synagogue’s membership from 20 to 200 families, with hundreds more unaffiliated attending throughout the year. Dedicated to inclusiveness and boundary breaking, he organized synagogues from across the denominations to join together for a variety of diverse programs.
A former CLAL intern and participant in CLAL’s Rabbinic Program, Rabbi Kalb has taught Liturgy at the Academy for Jewish Religion, Modern Jewish History at Touro College, and Bible at Norwalk Community College. A member of the first class of the Meorot fellowship, an organization that analyzes issues of importance to the Modern Orthodox community, he has lectured to a diversity of Jewish organizations and institutions including Limmud England, Limmud New York, and Edah.
Rabbi Kalb received his B.A. through the Joint Program between Columbia University and The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi Avi Weiss. He has also studied at Hebrew University, Yeshivat Hamivtar, and Yeshiva University.
