OUR FOUNDING RABBI

Rabbi Michael Boyden was born in London, England and is a graduate in Hebrew Literature from London University. He was ordained by the Leo Baeck College in London and served as the rabbi of Cheshire Reform Congregation near Manchester before making aliyah with his wife and two children in 1985.He is a past President of the Israel Council of Progressive Rabbis and served as the Director of  its national Rabbinic Court. In these capacities, he represented the Reform Movement on the Ne’eman Commission established by the Israeli government to resolve the conversion crisis and subsequently on the Executive set up by the Jewish Agency to establish a Joint Institute to prepare candidates for conversion in co-operation with the Orthodox and Conservative streams.

Rabbi Boyden was the founding rabbi of the Ra’anana Reform Congregation in Israel for whom he spearheaded a successful 10-year campaign to be awarded public land by city hall and raise the necessary funds to erect a Synagogue and Community Center there.