Rabbi Jack Shlachter (www.physicsrabbi.com) is currently a rabbi at HaMakom: The Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism in Santa Fe, New Mexico  while simultaneously serving the Los Alamos Jewish Center as their rabbi as well. Both congregations are small (approximately fifty families). Rabbi Shlachter is retired after several decades of full-time work at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Ph. D. physicist. Because rabbinical work is not his primary source of income, and with children out of the house, he is interested in traveling to interesting places to lead High Holiday services such as Warsaw.

In this year of the famous Oppenheimer film, Physicist Shlachter and Rabbi Shlachter are in high demand. Beit Warszawa and the Progressive community of Beit Polska are looking forward to welcoming such a wonderfully inspiring teacher during the High Holidays.

For five years, 2014-2018, Rabbi Shlachter led High Holiday services for Kehillat Beijing, the progressive expatriate congregation in Beijing, China. Previously he officiated at High Holiday services at the progressive synagogue in Vienna, Austria, and in the American Southwest.  He is quite excited to have the opportunity to aid the Progressive Beit Polska community in Poland.

In every shul where Shlachter leads services, he works with and guides the local lay leadership, sharing responsibilities according to the congregational needs. He has experience leading services in Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and independent progressive, egalitarian environments. As a member of OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal, he does not feel constrained by any specific movement in Judaism and is comfortable with many different machzorim (High Holiday prayer book).

For High Holidays, he often chants traditional melodies; he also has more modern tunes (Craig Taubman, Debbie Friedman, etc.) in his repertoire.  

Beverly Post is Rabbi Schlachter’s spouse and she will be joining him in Warsaw.