Rabbi Rachel Salston received her Rabbinic Ordination and MA in Rabbinic Studies from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in May 2018. A native of East Brunswick, New Jersey, Rabbi Salston currently serves as a Chaplain at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she is also completing her final unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, the formal training program for chaplains, an educational and spiritual journey that she began even before entering rabbinical school. 

Rabbi Salston received her BA in Neuroscience with a minor in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. She has learned in several yeshivot, including Hadar, Drisha, the Conservative Yeshiva, and SVARA.

Alongside her full-time work in the hospital, Rabbi Salston serves as a rabbi at the East Brunswick Jewish Center, the synagogue of her youth. Last year, Rabbi Salston served as Ritual Director of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, coordinating the spiritual life of the synagogue. As a rabbinical student, she served as Rabbinic Intern at Burbank Temple Emanu-El in Burbank, CA and taught prayer and the spiritual practice of Jewish art and calligraphy in several Los Angeles Jewish education programs.

A Soferet Stam (Ritual Scribe), Rabbi Salston operates a Torah and Tefillin repair business and teaches seminars for people of all ages about how our sacred scrolls are written, constructed, and maintained. In completion of her rabbinical school concentration in Talmud and Rabbinics, Rabbi Salston researched the history of and laws regarding Jewish amulets. She designs modern amulets for those seeking a physical representation of the prayers of their hearts. 

Strongly committed to social justice and global human rights, Rabbi Salston has traveled extensively in the Global South with American Jewish World Service and the Joint Distribution Committee. In her spare time she enjoys baking, crochet, needlepoint, sewing, Jewish and other podcasts, leading Daf Yomi (the daily page of Talmud), yoga, and running.

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* 1. How did you interact with the candidate? (select all the apply)

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* 2. On a scale of 1 - 5, how would you rate the candidate on the following key categories?

1. Poor 2. Fair 3. Good 4. Very Good 5. Excellent
Relationship/Community Building: Ability to bridge gaps and relate to community members of many backgrounds and multiple generations; diplomacy among staff, leadership, congregation, and community; working as a team to develop collaborative vision and unified execution.
Intentionality/Kavanah: Presents as genuine, authentic, and passionate. Note: the term Kavanah means “intention” or “sincere feeling/direction of the heart” in prayer and all aspects of Jewish observance, e.g. in tikkun olam (social action).
Presence/Ruach: Positive energy, passion, spiritual uplift; strikes a balance of resilience and confidence with humility and vulnerability; able to communicate clearly and concisely. Note: the term ruach literally means “wind,” and is used to refer to a person’s “spirit.”
Service Leading Skills/Shaliach Tzibur: Engages the congregation in song, has a pleasant voice, sings in a comfortable key. Note: The term shaliach tzibur is the word for a service leader whether clergy or lay leader, and literally means “representative of the community” in prayer.
Understanding/Binah: Demonstrates a foundation in Judaism and an ability to connect Jewish values, principles, and wisdom to everyday life, and to use it to inspire others; displays a respect for and knowledge of the principles of Conservative Judaism
Change Management: Capacity to collaborate on and execute change with resilience, passion, understanding, and tolerance for failures along the way.

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* 3. If you were interviewing this candidate to officiate your life cycle ritual (baby naming, B'nai Mitzvah, wedding, funeral, unveiling), how likely would you be you to hire this person?

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* 4. How would you feel about this candidate leading services, tefillah (prayer), and music?

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* 5. How would you feel about this candidate leading tefillah (prayer) and music at our religious school?

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* 6. Additional Comments:

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