Meet TIS’s Next Rabbi: Rabbi Joshua Dorsch

Rabbi Joshua Dorsch has been the Associate Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, New York since 2012. Rabbi Dorsch earned a Master of Arts degree in Jewish Education and a MA degree in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Talmud and Rabbinics from JTS. While at the Seminary, Rabbi Dorsch was selected to participate in the esteemed Schusterman Rabbinic Fellowship and participated in the Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellowship Program, through which he served as the rabbinic presence at Temple Emanu-El, in Reno, Nevada. He also had the privilege of participating on a Rabbinical Student delegation to Senegal with the American Jewish World Service. After completing a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, Rabbi Dorsch worked as a Chaplain at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC.

Prior to his position at Beth El, Rabbi Dorsch spent two years working as the student rabbi at the Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut, and as the rabbinic advisor to the Hillel at the University of Hartford. During his year of rabbinical school in Israel, he served as a rabbinic intern for a Masorti (Conservative) congregation, Tiferet Shalom, in Tel Aviv. After his year in Israel, he remained for the summer where he worked as a group leader and tour guide for Ramah Seminar in Israel.

Originally from Philadelphia, Rabbi Dorsch grew up attending, and then staffing, Camp Ramah in the Poconos, where he served as a unit head and prayer coordinator. He still enjoys spending time every summer at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. He was (and still is) very active in USY. He is a retired competitive Table Tennis player, having played in tournaments at the highest level, including the Maccabi Games.

Rabbi Dorsch describes himself as a socially minded, creative, and enthusiastic rabbi who is focused on community building, youth engagement, and lifelong learning. His goal is to help community members find meaning and connection through their relationship with the Jewish community, Jewish traditions, Israel, and God.