Rabbinic Team

We are honored to be served by Rabbi Seth Riemer, who will continue to lead Shabbat and Holiday services, as well as Torah Study through Nov 30, 2025.

Rabbi Seth Daniel Reimer

Rabbi Seth Daniel Reimer earned an A.B. in History and Literature from Harvard and a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Cornell.  A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which later awarded him an honorary D.Div., he previously served congregations in Ohio and Connecticut, and is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Torah in Wethersfield, CT.  Dr. Riemer taught at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy in Stamford, CT, served as adjunct professor in several universities and community colleges, and taught online and in Israel. He has contributed articles to The Reconstructionist magazine, served as the assistant editor on Kol Haneshamah (The Reconstructionist prayerbook), and editor-in-chief of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Rabbi's Manual, published in 1997. His blog, "Jewish 24-7" is on Substack.com. Rabbi Riemer is a dual Israeli-US citizen. 

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger

Rabbi Boettiger is Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He previously served as the Associate Rosh Yeshiva at CCM, and for the last decade, directed the Mussar program at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon. Joshua also teaches Jewish Meditation, and co-leads silent retreats. He is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and has an MFA in Poetry from Pacific University. Rabbi Joshua was the full time rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Bennington, VT from 2006-2012.

Rabbi Seth Wax

Rabbi Seth Wax, Jewish chaplain at Williams College, grew up in the Boston area and has been on a search that has brought him through Jewish communities and Buddhist monasteries to Harvard Divinity School and the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College before settling at Williams College in the summer of 2017. Prior to Williams, he was the rabbi at Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights, NY. Rabbi Seth is also a trained spiritual director and offers one-on-one and group sessions for those looking to bring more awareness and attention to their inner spiritual lives.

Rabbi Helen Plotkin

Rabbi Helen Plotkin is a graduate of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She currently teaches Biblical Hebrew and other subjects at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is co-founder of the Swarthmore College Center for the Study of Classical Jewish Texts, also known as the Beit Midrash, where she taught Biblical Hebrew and Classical Jewish Texts to hundreds of students over 20 years, until her retirement in 2021. She is a particular fan of the open-ended, imaginative arguments that one finds in the Jewish interpretive tradition. Before devoting herself to Jewish texts, she spent years studying ancient Chinese and pioneering the use of the internet in education.

Rabbi Rena Blumenthal

Rabbi Rena Blumenthal is a freelance rabbi based in New Paltz, New York. From 2003-2014, she served as the Assistant Director of the Office of Religious & Spiritual Life and Advisor to Jewish Students at Vassar College.  Rena received ordination in 2003 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  She is a member and former board member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, a member of the Rabbis Without Borders network, and a graduate of the rabbinic training program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.  Prior to attending rabbinical school, Rena worked as a psychologist for fifteen years in New York City and Jerusalem