Rabbi Jodi Seewald Smith Director of Congregational Engagement
Jodi is thrilled to be part of the remarkable staff at Temple Isaiah. She brings with her a multitude of talents and professional accomplishments; she is an innovative and effective leader with a varied career. She comes to us after spending six years as the School Rabbi at the Rashi School, in Dedham, MA where she developed and implemented programs for Jewish life and living. Prior to serving on Rashi’s administrative team, Jodi was the rabbi of Temple Chayai Shalom in Easton, MA. Under her leadership there, the synagogue’s membership grew significantly, programming expanded for families with young children and seniors, and a communal emphasis was placed on outreach, inclusion, and education.
“I am so excited to become part of the team at Temple Isaiah. The synagogue is a truly wonderful place that affects so many people in transformative ways. I look forward to growing together and creating a path of Engagement to all the extraordinary things that Temple Isaiah and the Jewish community have to offer”.
Jodi grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri where she studied comparative religion and spent her junior year living in Jerusalem. After college she studied at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and Jerusalem and was ordained as a rabbi in 2003. She now lives in Needham with her husband Adam, the Managing Director of the Diller Teen Fellow, her nine-year-old son, and seven-year-old daughter.
