The U.S. and Canada are running out of Reform rabbis. Look who's taking their place

Jul 14, 2025

Judy Maltz, Haaretz's Jewish world editor, discusses an intriguing trend of Israeli-born rabbis moving to the U.S. and Canada to address a growing clergy shortage in Reform and Conservative synagogues. She reveals that while fewer North American Jews are training for rabbinical roles, the numbers of those seeking ordination in Israel are on the rise. Maltz highlights the appeal of better salaries and societal respect abroad, contrasting it with the struggle for legitimacy these rabbis face in their home country.

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INSIGHT

Respect Attracts Rabbis Abroad

Israeli Reform rabbis prefer overseas posts for better salaries and respect.
Many feel legitimized abroad versus battling recognition and mockery at home in Israel.

INSIGHT

Clergy Shortage Sparks Israeli Exodus

North American Reform and Conservative synagogues face a severe clergy shortage due to fewer young Jews pursuing rabbinical training.
Israeli non-Orthodox rabbis fill this gap, revitalizing congregations and serving as bridges to Israel.

INSIGHT

Demographics Shrink Rabbinical Pipeline

Decline in liberal Jews having children reduces youth movement sizes.
This shrinks the rabbinical school pipeline and reduces appeal of synagogue life in America.

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A crisis-level shortage of clergy in North American Reform and Conservative synagogues has led to a fascinating new phenomenon – an exodus of Israeli-born rabbis moving to the United States and Canada to serve as spiritual leaders.

On the Haaretz Podcast, Judy Maltz, Haaretz’s Jewish world editor who has reported on the trend, explains how these Israelis are filling an ever-growing need as fewer and fewer young North American Jews are training to be rabbis in non-Orthodox movements. Meanwhile, the number of Israelis receiving rabbinic ordination has grown.

“I think what's luring them abroad primarily is the salaries and the conditions,” Maltz told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, adding there was another extremely appealing factor: respect.

“A woman rabbi who had recently taken a job in New York said to me ‘I no longer have to prove I'm a rabbi here.’ That is a very appealing factor: being admired and accepted for what you are and your profession, and that you don't have to constantly fight for recognition and legitimacy.” By contrast, in Israel, they are still battling for that legitimacy and even face mockery.

The Israeli imports are helping to solve the “very huge shortage of rabbis” to serve U.S. congregations in the non-Orthodox Jewish community “because nobody really wants to go to rabbinical school anymore and the whole business of organized synagogue life has become less appealing,” Maltz explained.

With liberal Jews affiliated with Jewish organizations (like synagogues) are having fewer and fewer children, she said, it has also been more difficult for Reform and Conservative congregations to sustain their traditionally strong youth movements “which have been the pipeline tor rabbinical school.”

The new imports, Maltz noted, are not only breathing new spiritual life into their new congregations “but since October 7, these Israeli rabbis find themselves serving as a kind of bridge between their congregations and Israel – and as an important resource on information about what's happening in Israel where the news changes so quickly. They are finding themselves in this new and rather unexpected role of explaining what's happening.”

Subscribe to Haaretz.com for up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Israel and the Middle East in English.

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