Rabbi in Residence Leslie Gordon

Temple Aliyah is pleased to have Rabbi Leslie Ann Gordon as our Rabbinic Associate. 

Since 1997, Rabbi Gordon has been a member of our community, teaching Adult Education courses on Zionism, Parshat Hashavua, and Talmud. She has also organized and led our Shabbat morning learners’ minyan, and she has led sessions for new member orientation. She is a “regular” at our shabbat and Monday morning services, where she often reads Torah and delivers divrei torah, and is also a “regular” at many of our congregation’s educational and social events. She helped organize and lead our Passover Women’s seders, and was the key educational contributor to our Torah writing campaign of 2007-08. She has served as our Interim Rabbi twice - in 2005 and 2013 - during Rabbi Perkins' sabbaticals. 

Born and raised in Tuscon, AZ, Rabbi Gordon received her Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Psychology in 1984 from Brandeis University. In 1991 she received Rabbinic Ordination and was awarded a Master of Arts from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where she was the recipient of both the Lamport Prize in Talmud and the Lowenthal Prize in Practical Theology. During her time at the JTS, she served as Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey and later as Rabbi at the West Clarkstown Jewish Center in Spring Valley, New York.

Since 2001 Rabbi Gordon has been an instructor for the Jewish Discovery institute, the local Conservative conversion class. Rabbi Gordon served as Assistant Rabbi at Agudas Achim Congregation, Alexandria, Virginia from 1991-1994. She was the Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1994-1997. From 1998 to 2004, Rabbi Gordon was also the Chaplain of Jewish Students at Babson College in Wellesley, where she provided programming and spiritual guidance for Jewish students, led Shabbat evening services, taught the Parshat Hashavua class for faculty and staff, and participated in multi-faith programs. 

Most recently, she served as Interim Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel in Sharon in 2014-2015, and since 2014, she has taught a number of classes designed for new (and not so new) Jews by Choice at Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikvah and Education Center.

Rabbi Gordon lives in Needham with her husband, David Goodtree. 

To contact Rabbi Gordon, please call the synagogue office (781-444-8522) or send an e-mail message. 

Rabbi Gordon has also delivered several divrei Torah to the congregation. These can be seen, along with divrei Torah by other guest speakers, here.