Rabbi's Welcome

Rabbi David Greenspoon Bio
Rabbi David Greenspoon is a 1995 graduate of the rabbinical school of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he earned numerous academic awards and served student pulpits in upstate New York and New Jersey. Prior to attending college, Rabbi Greenspoon spent four years as an enlisted sailor in the United States Navy, with extended sea duty on a guided missile cruiser and an aircraft carrier. After he received his honorable discharge in 1985, Rabbi Greenspoon moved to Gainesville, Florida where he was active at the University of Florida Hillel. During and after rabbinical school, Rabbi Greenspoon served 7 years as a chaplain in the United States Naval Reserve. He was called to the pulpit of Nevey Shalom in Bowie, Maryland after ordination and served there three years. He rejuvenated the congregation, which earned a special Solomon Schechter Award for congregational communications. Subsequently he was the rabbi at Adat Shalom B'nai Israel Beth Jacob Synagogue in suburban Pittsburgh from 1998 to 2005, where he quickly developed an award-winning adult education program from scratch in two years. While in Pittsburgh was active in the broader community in many ways, including as an officer of the Fox Chapel Ministerium where he developed an interfaith Bible study program, the president of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association, an active member the United Jewish Federation Board of Trustees, a steering committee member and Rabbinic Educator for the American Jewish Committee's Catholic-Jewish Education Enrichment Program, and served on the faculty for the Agency for Jewish Learning as well as the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. He's been the rabbi of Congregation Knesset Israel in Pittsfield, MA since August, 2005. In that time he has become active in the Pittsfield Area Council of Churches, invited to join the Berkshire Medical Center Patient-Care Ethics Committee, helped bring the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School to the Berkshires, and serves on the Budget and Allocations Committee for the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. Nationally he is a member of the United Jewish Communities' National Rabbinic Cabinet. He is passionate about life-long Jewish learning as both learner and instructor, and has been actively involved in Interfaith Dialogue and Education for over 20 years. His most recent project with members of the Pittsfield Area Council of Churches was an interfaith Bible study "Four Traditions' Paths To One God: The Call of Abram." Among his publications are articles in The Jewish Bible Quarterly, and Navy Chaplain Magazine. Most recently he has been published in Yom Kippur Readings and Rosh Hashanah Readings edited by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins.

On a more personal note, Rabbi Greenspoon enjoys beach and travel vacations with his wife, Anne Tanhoff Greenspoon, and sons Miles and Micah. A Jacksonville, FL native, Rabbi Greenspoon has been a fan of Jimmy Buffett's music for 30 years. His other passions include playing the mandolin and listening to live music, Costa Rican La Minita plantation coffee, and the multidisciplinary study of Ancient Judaism.