Rabbi Allyson Zacharoff joins Summit synagogue
Rabbi Allyson Zacharoff is the new religious and spiritual leader at Congregation Beth Hatikvah, a Reconstructionist community in Summit that draws members from Union, Morris, and Essex counties. Rabbi Zacharoff arrived in time to lead the synagogue for the High Holidays. CBH is a longtime member of the Summit Interfaith Council.
Rabbi Zacharoff brings a passion for interfaith dialogue and community building. She is a Jewish representative for several national interfaith dialogues, attends international multifaith gatherings, and has undertaken various grant-funded dialogue projects.
She grew up as the Jewish child of a happy interfaith marriage, and later found the professional field of interreligious dialogue during a college internship. She has studied and worked in interfaith domestically and abroad, at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem as a conflict resolution fellow; at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome with a Russell Berrie Fellowship in interreligious studies; and at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace as an International Peacemaking Program Fellow, where she earned a graduate certificate in Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations.
Rabbi Zacharoff succeeds Rabbi Hannah Orden, who retired after serving as CBH’s rabbi for nine years. Rabbi Orden, who now is on sabbatical, will remain affiliated with the congregation as rabbi emerita. For more information, go to bethhatikvah.org.
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