Professional Staff
Assistant Director of Youth & Family Engagement
Rabbi David Elitzer
(he/him)
Rabbi David Elizter is thrilled to join Kane Street for the year to further engage children of all ages and their families in the life of the Synagogue. After graduating with a BA in Archaeology from Brown University, he was awarded a UK Government Marshall Scholarship to research wartime cultural heritage destruction. During this time, he received an MSc in International Public Policy from University College London and an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of Cambridge. He has conducted fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Turkey, and Israel.
Rabbi David eventually decided to leave the policy world and become a rabbi, and he was ordained at Hebrew Union College in May 2026, earning an MA in Hebrew Literature along the way. During rabbinical school, Rabbi David completed the 1600 hours of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) necessary to be a board-eligible hospital chaplain and has specialized experience in pediatrics and psychiatry. He also worked as a per diem pediatric chaplain at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he primarily provided pastoral care in Spanish to families with children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). He served as rabbinical intern at New York’s Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Northern Virginia’s Temple Rodef Shalom, and Charlottesville’s Congregation Beth Israel, where he is returning as Assistant Rabbi in July 2027. Rabbi David regularly teaches classes on Jewish mysticism, liturgy, art, and archaeology. His academic specialty is pre-Kabbalistic Merkavah mysticism. Rabbi David lives in Carroll Gardens with his partner, Rhea, and dachshund, Earl Grey. He plays the guitar and banjo and is an avid urban gardener.