Senior Rabbi:  Steven M. Bob

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Rabbi Steven M. Bob has served as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim since 1981 and has played a key role in making Congregation Etz Chaim the warm welcoming community that it is. His delight in Torah, his sense of humor and fun, his love of teaching and learning, and his ability to connect with congregants of all ages are some of the gifts he brings to his role.

Rabbi Bob was ordained in 1977, after earning his B.A. at the University of Minnesota and his M.A. at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. He received the Doctor of Divinity degree from the Hebrew Union College in 2002. 



In addition to his activities at Etz Chaim, Rabbi Bob is currently an adjunct faculty member at Wheaton College and Elmhurst College, where he is also a founder of the Holocaust Education Program. He is a leader of the faculty of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute and a recipient of the Samuel Cook Award for Lifetime Achievement in Youth Work.

Rabbi Bob’s book, “Go to Nineveh, Commentaries of Rashi, Abraham Ibn Ezra, David Kimchi, Isaac Abarbanel and the Malbim to the Book of Jonah, Translated and Explained” will be published in November by Wimpf and Stock. He is recognized as an expert on Yom HaShoah.



Rabbi Bob's involvement and leadership in the wider community include chairing the DuPage Interfaith Resource Network. He also served as Recording Secretary of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Bob is a Past President of the Chicago Association of Reform Rabbis as well as the Elmhurst Ministerium. Rabbi Bob is a member of the Board of the Union for Reform Judaism.



Ha'aretz named Rabbi Bob as one of the 36 American Jews who helped shape the 2008 Presidential election. Rabbi Bob is the founder of the Fourth Day Initiative, an interfaith solar energy project.