Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers
Rabbi Hazzan Myers received a BA from Rutgers, an MA in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and studied privately with Cantor Zvi Aroni before graduating from the Cantorial School of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). He holds Rabbinic Ordination from Mesivta Adat Wolkowisk and an honorary doctorate in music from JTS. He organized the June 1998 gathering of nearly 1,000 children from the NJ, PA, NY area to celebrate Israel’s 50th Anniversary in Central Park under the auspices of the 50th anniversary gathering of the Cantors Assembly.
Rabbi Myers currently serves as a trustee on the Executive Board of the Jewish Educators Assembly. He has also served on the National Education Commission of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the National Deliberation Team for Project Etgar, the new curriculum for the middle school that is a joint project of the United Synagogue and the Melton Institute. He received a Schechter Award for his interfaith Evening of Harmony that commemorates the Holocaust and awards for synagogue and family programming. He is married to Janice, a special educator at Community Day School, and they are past recipients of the Ben Gurion Award from Israel Bonds. They have two children, Rachel and Aaron.
Messages From the Rabbi
Wed, January 27 2021
14 Shevat 5781
In the News
Becoming Rabbi Myers
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
“There are no classes you can take on what to do. There were no rabbis I could call on the phone to ask what they did. This is just my way of saying that I have no doubt that I’ve made mistakes along the way, because I’m human. I’ve probably said things I shouldn’t have said, done things I shouldn’t have done. All I hope is that at the end, with whatever future story may be told, that the good I’ve done will hopefully outweigh any errors that I made of commission or omission, and that’s all I can hope for. I’ve tried my best.”
Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers: A face of tragedy, a voice for peace Pittsburgh Post Gazette
“The only way to change the world is to show love, not hate,” he said. “Hate can never beat hate. And that has been the guiding force for me throughout that.”
In hatred, “you don’t get how you become part of the problem, not part of the solution. It’s corrosive. It rots you from the core out. So you reach a point where you don’t even know you’re showing hate. It takes hold of you.”
TOL*OLS Welcomes Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
What Myers brings to the Squirrel Hill Congregation “are the skills of an ordained cantor, to be able to chant a beautiful service for Shabbat and holidays, as well as to offer the teachings of our tradition. I’d like to think that for a synagogue such as Tree of Life, that’s hitting a win-win.”
A Message from Rabbi Myers
Contact Rabbi Myers