Joshua M. Davidson

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson began his tenure as Temple Emanu-El’s senior rabbi in 2013. From 2002 through 2013 he served as senior rabbi of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester in Chappaqua, New York, and from 1997 to 2002 as assistant and associate rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, advising that synagogue’s award-winning Social Action Committee.

A graduate of Princeton University, and ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion from which he also received Master’s and honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees, Rabbi Davidson’s work has included anti-death penalty advocacy, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and interfaith dialogue. In 2009, he was honored for his interfaith efforts by the Westchester Jewish Council and the American Jewish Committee, on whose New York Board he sits.  He has been profiled in both Leaders Magazine and Our Town.

Currently Rabbi Davidson is a member of the Hebrew Union College Board of Governors, HUC’s President’s Rabbinic Council, the Clergy Advisory Board of Interfaith Impact of New York State, and the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council. He is a past chair of A Partnership of Faith in New York City, and past president of both the Westchester Board of Rabbis and the Chappaqua Interfaith Council. From 2001 to 2006, he served as chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Committee on Justice, Peace and Religious Liberties and vice-chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. He also chaired the Commission’s task force on Israel and world affairs. He is a past board member of UJA-Federation of New York and Rabbis for Human Rights-North America.

Rabbi Davidson was honored with a Corkin Family Fellowship at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. His articles have been published by The Jewish Week, The Forward, Commentary Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, CNN, The Huffington Post, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel; and he is a contributing writer in Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman’s Prayers of Awe series.