B’nai Torah MetroWest (BTM) is excited to welcome Rabbi Emily Mathis to our community this July! BTM members recently celebrated with a joyous gathering to welcome Rabbi Emily to the community.

“We are fortunate to have found a rabbi with so much experience and enthusiasm to lead our congregation as we begin the second year of B’nai Torah MetroWest. We are excited about the knowledge, creativity, and caring Rabbi Emily brings to the role of being our pulpit rabbi,” shares BTM board president Amy Siegel.

Ordained at Hebrew College and a graduate of Brown University, Rabbi Emily spent seven years as the spiritual leader and pulpit rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Peabody, in addition to serving communities across much of the Jewish spectrum as a rabbi and educator. Prior to her work in Jewish settings, Emily directed programming in the fields of environmental education, urban gardening, and family literacy. In addition to her rabbinic work, she is a family herbalist, and can generally be found in the kitchen working on her next project and drinking coffee. She and her spouse, Hali Diecidue, live in West Newton with their three girls (24, 14, and 8) and one labradoodle.

“I’m looking forward to serving this congregation that has both a long history as a community and is also energized by the recent restructuring,”  Rabbi Emily expresses. “As with Jewish tradition, we are at our best when we can weave together the lessons of our collective wisdom with dedication to our evolution and an eye to the future. With this renewal, we have the opportunity to build a Jewish life that will be engaging for the diversity of families and individuals in our community.”

Rabbi Emily will begin leading services with Shabbat on the Beach at the Wayland Town Beach on Friday, July 19, at 6 p.m. The community is warmly invited to attend. Bring a beach chair or blanket—and picnic dinner if you’d like—and get ready to enjoy a beautiful sunset service filled with music and prayer.

Additional beach services will be held on Aug. 9 and Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. The Wayland Town Beach is located at 25 Parkland Drive in Wayland.

BTM is an inclusive, Reform community. BTM, a successor of Congregation B’nai Torah, was established in June 2023 subsequent to the closure of Congregation B’nai Torah of Sudbury, almost 50 years after its founding. It is part of the Jewish Learning Collaborative of Metrowest (JLCMW), a Hebrew school that welcomes Jewish learners in grades pre-K to grade 7 from area member synagogues and the greater community.

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