Rabbi Mark David Finkel
Pine Brook Jewish Center has had the distinct honor and pleasure to have a dedicated, spiritual, smart, caring, compassionate, and creative Rabbi leading and tending to our congregation for many years. Rabbi Mark David Finkel has helped shape our community in countless ways. Not only has he provided steadfast and unwavering spiritual leadership and guidance to all of us, but he has also become our dear friend and he truly is our family.
Rabbi Finkel will be retiring after 18 years as Rabbi at the Pine Brook Jewish Center after having served as Rabbi of Beth Abraham in Nashua for almost seventeen years. A native of Milton, Massachusetts, Rabbi Finkel graduated the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1979 after a year as a visiting student in Israel at the Hebrew University. He did his undergraduate work at New York University with a double major in Near Eastern Literature and Languages and Economics. He also holds an MA in history from NYU and a Master of Theology from the Harvard Divinity School. Rabbi Finkel received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2004 and from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2005. He is certified in pastoral counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health.
In his younger years, Rabbi Finkel spent summers at Camps Young Judea and Yavneh in New Hampshire, and in his teen years he attended and graduated the Prozdor of the Hebrew College of Boston and served as New England Region President of USY. Rabbi Finkel’s previous pulpits were at Congregation Sons of Zion in Holyoke, Massachusetts and at Adath Israel of the Main Line in Merion, Pennsylvania as Associate Rabbi. During the summer of 1996, Rabbi Finkel served as visiting Rabbi in a new congregation in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania. Rabbi Finkel is a member of the Jewish Youth Directors Association and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
Rabbi Finkel is also a member of the Rabbinical Assembly where he has served as Secretary and Vice President of the New Jersey Region, and he is currently serving his third term as New Jersey Region Treasurer.
In our community, Rabbi Finkel was a founding board member of OneMontville. Throughout his time in our community, Rabbi Finkel has been actively involved with the Montville clergy and has been a visible “ambassador” from PBJC in a variety of religious and civic events and concerns in the greater Montville community
Since their arrival, Rabbi Finkel, Abby, Liora, Doron, and Eliana have been a visible part of the PBJC community on Shabbat, holidays, in the ECC, Religious School, B”Yachad, youth groups, Men’s Club and Sisterhood.
When their schedules allow, Abby and Rabbi enjoy theater and cultural events and watching their children take part in community and school events. Their favorite place to unwind is Cape Cod. They are so proud of all of their children and are thrilled to be members of the PBJC community.
We thank Rabbi Finkel for his dedication and commitment to our entire community. We thank him for the varied and creative Adult Education classes he has offered through the years. We thank him for working with our children to show them the beauty and fun in our Jewish culture and traditions. We thank him for working with our B’nai Mitzvah students to understand the meaning of their Haftarah and to appreciate what it truly means to be Jewish. We thank him for inspiring all of us to be our best and to follow the teachings of the Tanakh.
As the PBJC community looks back on the past 18 years with Rabbi Finkel leading and enriching our community together, we realize how blessed we have been. Whether it has been leading meaningful Shabbat services, celebrating joyous simchas, or being there for all of us in times of need and sorrow, we have all known that he is always there for us…leading us, guiding us, helping us, understanding us, celebrating with us, giving us strength, and making us smile. Thank you, Rabbi, for all of this and more. Pine Brook Jewish Center is truly better because of you.