"Moshe Waldoks, who travels the country trying to enliven Jewish prayer. . . prayed with a running commentary, teaching and chanting in a baritone, sometimes bursting into aria for major prayers and other times transitioning with a peppery recitative, 'We're moving now from verses of praise to Shema and its brakhot and some-would-say-kaddish-here-if-they-had-a-minyan-but- we-don't-have-a-minyan-so-we're-not-going-to-say-kaddish-here-but-I-wanted-to-bring-it-up- anyway-and-invite-everyone-who-is-along-to-come-along-because—' and then he chanted, '—Blessed is God, Organizing Principle of the Universe, who forms light and creates darkness.'"
long with an infectious laugh and a soulful voice, Rabbi Moshe Waldoks — Reb Moshe — brings many years of deep and eclectic experiences to his role as Temple Beth Zion's spiritual leader. Educated in a Yiddish-speaking yeshiva and holding a doctorate in Jewish intellectual history, Reb Moshe taught at Wellesley, Hebrew College and Brandeis before receiving smicha, or post-denominational ordination, by his mentors, Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green and Everett Gendler.
Dedicated to building bridges, Reb Moshe went to Dharamsala, India in October 1990 to participate in the first Jewish-Tibetan Buddhist encounter with the Dalai Lama. This amazing journey through Tibetian Buddhism and Judaism is recounted in Rodger Kamenetz' best-selling book, The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India. Reb Moshe is active in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue as well; and he serves as an advisor to Boston's RUAH Spirituality Institute.
A storyteller and stand-up comedian (he is co-editor of The Big Book of Jewish Humor), Reb Moshe has used humor to animate our once-diminished shul. "I'm a real advocate of joy," he has noted. His joyful congregants agree.
Since 1998, Reb Moshe has transformed our congregation from a few dozen (mostly-elderly) members, to a vibrant and diverse community of nearly 600. Based on his unique talents and TBZ's remarkable growth, Reb Moshe has become a much-sought lecturer on evolving Jewish culture and spiritual renewal.
With his wife, Anne, and their three daughters, Reb Moshe infuses our community with spirit, song, laughter and learning.
long with an infectious laugh and a soulful voice, Rabbi Moshe Waldoks — Reb Moshe — brings many years of deep and eclectic experiences to his role as Temple Beth Zion's spiritual leader. Educated in a Yiddish-speaking yeshiva and holding a doctorate in Jewish intellectual history, Reb Moshe taught at Wellesley, Hebrew College and Brandeis before receiving smicha, or post-denominational ordination, by his mentors, Rabbis 