Joe Rooks Rapport -- Senior Rabbi

Rabbi Rapport has served the congregation since 1988.  He received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History in 1988 from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Arts in History from the same University in 1986.  Rabbi Rapport is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where he was ordained in June of 1984.  He received his Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from the Los Angeles campus of HUC, prior to which he spent a full year in Israel at the College's campus in Jerusalem.   

At the Hebrew Union College, he began his study of the American Jewish experience with his Rabbinic Thesis, a computerized collective biography entitled:  "Notable American Jewish Women."  In addition, he has completed theses and major works on:  American Involvement in the Holocaust, The Early Settlement of the Jews in Georgia, Fannie Hurst, Leni Riefenstahl, Local and Regional campaign Media, as well as various technical works in the field of  computers and education.  

His doctoral dissertation concerned Emma Lazarus, the American-Jewish poetess whose sonnet adorns the Statue of Liberty.  Publications include:  "The Roots of Reform in Louisville," a scholarly review establishing The Temple among the founders of Reform Judaism; a biographical sketch of Louise Waterman Wise in the new Encyclopedia, Jewish Women in America, as well as various software titles in the area of Hebrew Language education.  

At The Temple, Rabbi Rapport oversees many programs.  He teaches in a variety of adult education classes, as well as teaching children in the The Temple's Religious School, at the High School of Jewish Studies, guiding The Temple Confirmation Class, and working closely with Bar and Bat Mitzvah students.   Each summer, he works with Jewish children during a two-week session at Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Indiana.

In the community at large, Rabbi Rapport offers a course in Jewish philosophy at Bellarmine University and is often called upon to speak throughout the city.  He was on the original planning committee for the new Rauch Planetarium in the Gheen's Science Center.  He is a member of the University of Louisville Board of Overseers,  as well as being involved in various interfaith and social action activities. He is past chair of the Louisville Coalition for the Homeless, and MPOC, a diversity project of the NCCJ. 

Within the Jewish community, he has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Community Federation, and as president of the Kentucky Board of Rabbis and Cantors, and is a past chair of the Community Relations Council. Nationally, he is a contributor to Reform Voices of Torah, the URJ's Torah Study and he was the chair of the Computers and Technology Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.  

Rabbi Rapport is married to Rabbi Gaylia R. Rooks, who is also a Senior Rabbi at The Temple, where she has served since 1988.  They are parents of two awesome young adults - Yael and Lev Rooks-Rapport.

 Gaylia R. Rooks -- Senior Rabbi

Rabbi Rooks has served the congregation since 1988.  She is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where she was ordained in 1984.  She received her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from the Los Angeles campus of HUC, prior to which she spent a full year at the College's Israel campus in Jerusalem.  In May 2000, Rabbi Rooks received her Doctor of Ministry degree from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Her Rabbinic Thesis, Halachic Guidance for the Terminally Ill, provides insights from Jewish tradition for the modern day dilemmas of biomedical ethics.  Rabbi Rooks has continued her interest in morals in medicine by serving on the Ethics Committee of the Norton-Kosair Children's - Alliant Hospital In-vitro Fertilization Board.

Her undergraduate career was spent at Brandeis University, where she graduated cum laude in 1979 as a double major in Psychology and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.  She served twice as the chairperson of the Reform Group of Hillel and studied abroad her Junior year at the Jacob Hiatt Institute in Jerusalem.

At The Temple, Rabbi Rooks is involved in Social Action and outreach to people becoming Jewish and intermarried families in the congregation. She provides leadership for women through the Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) and the annual Women's Shabbaton (retreat.)  Her work with senior adults led her to create Senior University, an annual day-long series of seminars for senior adults  She also teaches a variety of adult education classes, as well as teaching in The Temple's Religious and Hebrew School.

Rabbi Rooks directs worship and ritual and is responsible for all the music offered at The Temple.  She has released a collection of original Jewish music on CD titled If You Will It . . . , all proceeds from which go to The Temple Israel Future Fund which helps send teenagers to Israel, and is hoping for a new CD to be released soon. 

Rabbi Rooks has been an adjunct faculty member at Spalding University Graduate School Department of Religion, the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Indiana University Southeast.  She also serves as Vice-chair and founding member of STAR - Systematic Treatment of Autism & Related Disorders at the Weisskopf Child Evaluation Center, a division of the University of Louisville School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics.  

Rabbi Rooks is seen regularly on "Moral Side of the News," the WHAS-TV Interfaith Panel which is broadcast on local television and to 38 states on radio.  She also serves on the clergy allocations committee of the "WHAS Crusade For Children," the largest independent charitable fundraising organization in the country, raising over six million dollars each year for special needs children in the Kentuckiana region. 

Rabbi Rooks is married to Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport, who is also a Senior Rabbi at The Temple.  They are the parents of two awesome young adults - Yael and Lev.