Rabbi Stephen Boroda
Rabbi Stephen Boroda took up the position as Chief Minister of Kew Hebrew Congregation in July 2008. Rabbi Boroda and his family are returning to Australia after more than eight years in the USA. Rabbi Boroda first moved to Australia in May 1995 with his wife Tzipi and their then three-year old son Anton (Yonatan). Anton’s younger brother Eliaad and sister Libi were born in Sydney and Adelaide respectively. Their youngest two siblings, Eva and Sadie, were born in the USA.
Rabbi Boroda has been involved as either a layperson or a professional in Jewish communities in England, Israel, Australia and the United States for most of his life. He has worked with congregations of varying ideologies, working alongside rabbis, lay professional staff and board members, serving congregants of all ages, caring for them personally and helping them along their spiritual journey. Most of his professional experience has been with those who are relatively unobservant but who have an interest in Jewish ideas and practice.
Rabbi Boroda is Modern Orthodox both in substance and in style with a commitment to Torah, halakhah and the quest for kedushah, open intellectual inquiry and expression in both secular and religious arenas, engagement with the social, political and technological realities of the modern world, a recognition of the religious significance of the State of Israel and the unity of K’lal Yisrael.
Rabbi Boroda was born and educated in London, attending University College School from 1975 until 1982. He was awarded a Bachelor of Economics and Social Studies degree from the University of Manchester in 1986, specialising in Government and Political Theory. He completed a four year programme at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles in 1993, receiving both Bachelor of Literature and Master of Arts in Education degrees. Before and after his time in Los Angeles, Rabbi Boroda spent a total of 2 ½ years in Jerusalem, attending Ulpan Etzion, Machon Greenberg and Machon Pardes.
Rabbi Boroda has worked as a rabbinic assistant in various forms since May 1995, both in Australia and the USA. He was three years at the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation from 1996 1999, where he served as Assistant Minister under three different rabbis. He was twice called upon to be Acting Chief Minister, once for a period of seven months from March to October 1998.
From January 2000 until July 2002, Rabbi Boroda was the Ritual and Programming Director of Beth Jacob Congregation in Dayton, Ohio. While in Dayton, he organised many programmes for families. He also encouraged a group of initially reluctant sixth and seventh grade students to accompany him to weekends organized by the National Council of Synagogue Youth, beginning a new era of involvement for Dayton youth in NCSY.
Rabbi Boroda served as the Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Anshai Lebowitz in Mequon, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, from August 2002 until August 2006. He received s’micha (Yoreh Yoreh) from Rabbi Dov Channen of Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim in August, 2005.
Tzipi Boroda is also a Jewish educator. She has taught Hebrew and Jewish Studies in Jewish day schools and in supplementary Jewish settings since she was eighteen. Although most of her experience has been with children, Tzipi has a passion for sharing the beauty of Torah to adult audiences. She also has experience in kashrut supervision. Tzipi will be joining the Jewish Studies faculty of Yavneh College as of July 2008.
