Rabbi Joshua Rabin
Rabbi Joshua Rabin is proud to take the mantle of rabbinic leadership at ACI and help this community grow and thrive. Josh was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2011, where he also received a Master of Arts in Jewish Education and served two terms as student body president. While in rabbinical school, Josh was a rabbinic intern at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel, taught social studies at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School, and served as a hospice chaplain at Beth Israel Medical Center, while also serving congregations in Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, and Nova Scotia.
Most recently, Josh served as the Senior Director of USY, the youth movement of Conservative Judaism, and the organization that inspired him to be a rabbi. Prior to that, Josh served as the Senior Director of Synagogue Leadership at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), and as the Rabbi-in-Residence of the Schechter School of Long Island.
Josh obtained an MBA credential of readiness from Harvard Business School Online, a certificate in nonprofit management from Columbia Business School, and a certificate in fundraising management and leadership from Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy. Josh is a recipient of the Wexner Field Fellowship and the Ruskay Fellowship for Jewish Professional Leadership.
Josh lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife, Rabbi Yael Hammerman, and their children Hannah, Shai, and Ella. You can read more of Josh’s writings by visiting www.joshuarabin.com.
Cantor Emeritus George Lindenblatt
Cantor George Lindenblatt served Astoria Center of Israel for 50 years until his retirement in 2021. He is one of the few cantors who can say they were raised in an Orthodox family, graduated from a Reform cantorial school, and then served a Conservative synagogue. It is perhaps this diverse background that accounts for his ability to reach out, with genuine heart, to a wide spectrum of people within the Jewish community. Here at ACI, he is not only a melodious voice of prayer on the bimah but a friend and counselor to many.
Cantor George was born in Budapest on the eve of World War II. Escaping the country following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he settled in New York where he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree from Hebrew Union College. His wife, writer Elaine Freed Lindenblatt, served as our long time bulletin editor. Their family includes daughter Eve, her husband John Nasetti, and their children Daniella and Francesco; daughter Suzanne, her husband Boaz Gilad, and their children Noa, Ella, and Benjamin; and daughter Nicole and her husband Paul Kahn