RABBI LEONID FELDMAN

Leonid Feldman is a living example of the drama of modern Jewish History.  He has experienced total assimilation, Jewish rebirth, violent anti-Semitism, imprisonment in Russia as a Zionist activist, and freedom in the West.

The spiritual leader of Temple Beth El, West Palm Beach and CLAL Associate, Leonid Feldman is the first and only Soviet-born Conservative Rabbi in America.  He is also the President of the Ami-DA Institute for training Russian Jewish Leaders.  Rabbi Feldman’s emotional return to his hometown of Kishinev was featured on the NBC TODAY Show, and the Israeli National television.  He also hosted a TV show on a Christian Cable channel in Florida for 2 years.  In 1996, Rabbi Feldman was a visiting Professor at the Jewish University of Moscow.

In 1999, he was teaching Homiletics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and in 2000, Rabbi Feldman delivered the keynote address to over 3000 people at the UJC Young Leadership Conference in Washington.  In 2002, he was the keynote speaker at the Evangelical Christian Convention in Nairobi, Kenya.

Rabbi Feldman has lectured in thirty seven states and nineteen countries.  He has testified before the United States Congress and Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and addressed the California Senate and Florida House of Representatives.  The subject of feature articles in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Jerusalem Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Insight Magazine, Moment and a myriad of other general and Jewish publications, his biography appears in Who’s Who in Religion, Men of Achievement, International Who’s Who of Intellectuals, etc.

Leonid Feldman has served as a scholar for the Wexner Heritage Foundation and as Director of Education for Soviet Emigres in Italy.  Rabbi Feldman holds graduate degrees in Rabbinics from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, in Education from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and in Physics and Theater Arts from Kishinev State Pedagogical Institute in the U.S.S.R.  He is also a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Miami.

Rabbi Feldman’s varied and unusual life and background in a Marxist society enable him to teach and lecture on Judaism with a passion and perspective that is unique and exhilarating.

RABBI STEVEN WESTMAN

Rabbi Steven Westman was inspired to become a Rabbi after learning about the Holocaust.  The son of Holocaust survivors, the Rabbi received his rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio after graduation from the University of Illinois.  Rabbi Westman later went on to complete his Doctor of Divinity degree at Hebrew Union College in 1997.
           
Before coming to Temple Beth El in the year 2000, Rabbi Steve, as his likes to be known, officiated at Temple Beth El Israel in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Beth Torah in Wellington, Florida, Temple Israel in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and Congregation Rodeph Shalom, the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.
           
Not only does Rabbi love Jewish humor, but he is also an accomplished pianist and guitar player. You will often see him accompany the Cantor at services.  Most importantly, Rabbi Westman is well deserving of the many commendations he has received, such as the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County Leadership Award, the Tower of David Award from the State of Israel Bonds, and has been featured in Who’s Who in Religion, Who’s Who in the South, and Who’s Who in America.
           
Wife, Sherri, and daughters, Rachel, Emily, and Molly, help to keep Rabbi Steve in check.  Too bad the Borscht Belt is gone.  The Rabbi would have given Henny Youngman a run for his money.