Alliance for Continuing Rabbinic Education - Interview with Rabbi Eric Solomon

• published: 22 Jan 2015
• views: 3

Alliance for Continuing Rabbinic Education - Interview with Rabbi Eric Solomon. Rabbi Eric M. Solomon is the spiritual leader of Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raised in Columbia, MD, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland and then entered rabbinical school, spending three years in Jerusalem and three years in New York City. In Israel, he studied Rabbinic Literature at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies and then continued on as a Senior Educator at the Melton Center for Jewish Education and as a student of Talmud at the Shalom Hartman Institute. After Rabbi Solomon’s ordination through the Reform branch’s Hebrew Union College in 2000, his mentors, Rabbis Rolando Matalon and Marcelo Bronstein, selected him as the 4th Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinical Fellow at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun (BJ) in New York City. There, he successfully founded BJ’s first-ever outpost, Congregation Tehillah, in Riverdale. In 2005, Rabbi Solomon gained entry into the Rabbinical Assembly and arrived in Raleigh that same year. Rabbi Solomon currently serves on the Social Justice Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly and on the rabbinical board of Hazon (a Jewish environmental organization). Locally, he helped found Raleigh’s Interfaith Coalition to Save Darfur, served on the first steering committee of Congregations for Social Justice, and currently serves on the board of Uniting NC, a state-wide organization committed to making North Carolina a place that respects and values immigrants. He has taken part in the STAR PEER Executive Leadership program, participated in the 4th rabbinical cohort of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and was selected for the Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship sponsored by CLAL. In 2010, Rabbi Solomon was honored as a “Tarheel of the Week” by the Raleigh News&Observer; for his interfaith efforts, and he recently earned a certificate in non-profit management from the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In February 2012, Rabbi Solomon was named the inaugural Rabbis For Human Rights “Rabbi-Of-The-Month” for his commitment to social justice. In August 2012, Rabbi Solomon travelled to Ghana as part of a Young Rabbis’ Delegation sponsored by the American Jewish World Service to see first-hand the work that is being accomplished on the ground through AJWS’ support. Rabbi Solomon loves playing soccer and tennis and completed his first-ever marathon in the Fall of 2011. He is married to Rabbi Jennifer Solomon, founding Director of the Beth Meyer Community Mikveh, and has three children, Meirav, Adiel and Natan.