Rabbi Joshua Pernick

Josh Pernick was raised in Nanuet, New York, before receiving a BA in Sociology and MAT in Elementary Education from Brandeis University. He also attended the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators’ year-long fellowship program. He was an early childhood and elementary school educator who taught in Jewish day schools in Charleston, SC, Watertown, MA, and Atlanta, GA, before embarking on his rabbinic journey in the summer of 2015. While at YCT, he served as the student rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland, ME, from 2016-18, and of the Orthodox Kehillah in Durham, NC, from 2018-19. Josh was awarded the Crown Fellowship by YCT to expand the impact of his community work in Portland, and was trained to apply research in the field of entrepreneurship to his community-building work through the Hillel Office of Innovation’s Fellowship for Rabbinic Entrepreneurs. Josh interned with Rabbi Adam Scheier at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal, taught in the JSpace program at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and served as a curricular consultant for the Global Day of Jewish Learning. Josh currently serves as the Rabbi in Residence and Director of Jewish Life and Community Relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven. He served as a congregational rabbi before moving into the Jewish Federation world, serving as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Metairie, LA. In his role with the Jewish Federation, Rabbi Josh works with local synagogues, schools and universities to strengthen the ties between the organized Jewish community and neighboring institutions across New Haven, working on joint initiatives to build bridges of understanding between diverse communities.