I want to tell you something I believe with my whole heart:
Torah is not ancient history. It is the most relevant, alive, and urgent wisdom we have — and it belongs to every Jew, wherever they are on their journey.
That belief is what drives everything I do.
I have been the Rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue for over twenty years. BRS has grown into the largest Orthodox synagogue in the Southeast United States, and I am humbled and grateful for every family that has made it their home. But the truth is, my calling has never been limited to the people sitting in the pews on Shabbat morning.
Every week I teach, write, record, and show up — because there are Jews everywhere who are searching. Some are deeply observant and want to go deeper. Some haven't been inside a synagogue in years and aren't sure why they're here. Some are somewhere in between, doing their best to hold onto something meaningful in a world that moves too fast and asks too little of us spiritually.
I want to reach all of them. I want to reach you.
Where I Come From
I grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, spent two years learning at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel, and went on to study psychology at Yeshiva University before receiving my rabbinic ordination from RIETS. I came to Boca Raton in 1999 as part of the Community Kollel, and I have been here ever since — building, learning, and trying every day to be worthy of the trust this community places in me.
My wife Yocheved and I are blessed to be raising our seven children here: Racheli, Atara, Leora, Tamar, Estee, Temima, and Shai. They keep me honest. They keep me grounded. And they remind me every day what we are actually doing all of this for.
What I Do Every Week
I believe that consistency is its own form of commitment. That showing up — week after week, not just when inspiration strikes — is how real growth happens. So everything I create is built around that rhythm.
Living With Emunah
Each week we explore what it means to truly trust in Hashem. Not as an abstract idea, but as a practice you can bring into your actual day.
View series →Parsha Perspectives
The weekly Torah portion isn't just a reading cycle. It is a conversation Hashem is having with us, right now, about exactly what we are going through.
View series →10 Minutes of Meaning
Ten focused minutes each week in the great texts of Jewish thought. We are currently learning Tanya together.
View series →Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos
Shabbat doesn't begin when you light candles. It begins with how you prepare. This series is about reclaiming that preparation as something sacred.
View series →6 Minute Siddur Snippets
You've been saying these words your whole life. Let's talk about what they actually mean.
View series →Behind the Bima
The podcast I host with Rabbi Philip Moskowitz. Unscripted, honest, wide-ranging conversations about Jewish life, leadership, Israel, and the questions our community is genuinely wrestling with.
View series →And every week I write. Not recycled content — original thinking about the moment we are living through, always anchored in Torah, always aimed at something real.
Beyond Boca
The work I do at BRS has opened doors I never expected. I have had the privilege of serving in leadership roles in the Rabbinical Council of America, sitting on the Board of Trustees of the Beth Din of America, and engaging with the AIPAC National Council. I have had the privilege of meeting with presidential administrations at the White House to discuss the U.S.-Israel relationship, and of delivering the invocation before the United States House of Representatives. I have spoken at the AIPAC Policy Conference, the OU and RCA National Conventions, and written for Mishpacha, Aish.com, The Jewish Press, Times of Israel, and many others.
I share this not to impress, but to say: the conversations I am part of — about Israel, about Jewish continuity, about what it means to live a life of meaning in the modern world — are the same conversations I am trying to have with you here, every single week.
A Personal Note
The greatest threat facing our people right now is not antisemitism. It is disconnection. It is the quiet drift away from Torah, from community, from the deep sense of purpose that has sustained our people for three thousand years.
I built this website, these series, this weekly rhythm, because I believe that one class, one article, one conversation at the right moment can change the trajectory of a person's life. I have seen it happen. I have watched people find their way back. I have watched people find their way in for the very first time.
That is why I keep showing up. And I am glad you are here.
— Rabbi Efrem Goldberg Senior Rabbi, Boca Raton Synagogue
