Rabbi David Lerner

Temple Emunah, Lexington

"When the pandemic hit, the Temple Emunah staff and lay leadership went into overdrive figuring out how to transform our community into one that met virtually, and Rabbi Lerner was there to guide us every step of the way. Not only did he guide our community through finding meaning through prayer and meditation over Zoom, and through creating a spiritually uplifting High Holy Day season, but he also started new initiatives in social justice and has talked from his heart to channel collective feelings of joy, heartache, and righteous indignation. He is a true motivator that leads with words and actions. When roadblocks appeared, Rabbi Lerner helped us find new ideas to circumvent them from a mesh-walled sukkah to outdoor Sunday morning masked classes studying tallit and tefillin for 7th graders and their parents to a creative community Simhat Torah celebration where our honorees could be celebrated outdoors and where the simhah was captured by a professional film crew for our those at home. He has been there for those who have experienced losses, officiating at dozens of funerals during the most hard-hit months and pioneering intimate Zoom-shiva and outdoor shiva services. Together with our amazing staff and wonderful lay leaders, he has kept the Emunah family together."