Our Rabbi

Rabbi Leon A. Morris is rabbi of Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, NY. A leading educator in the field of adult Jewish study, Rabbi Morris was the founding director of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

Ordained from Hebrew Union College in1997 where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, he has worked extensively as an educator with the Jewish community of India, beginning in 1990 when he served as a Jewish Service Corps volunteer for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and has returned many times for shorter volunteer work.

For three years Leon served as Director of New York Kollel: A Center for Adult Jewish Study at HUC-JIR. He was among the founders of Lishmash, a one-day festival of Jewish life and learning. In addition to teaching at Skirball, he has taught at Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform synagogues, as well as the Drisha Institute. He has contributed essays to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, The Jewish Weekand Beliefnet and has appeared on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and PBS’s “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.”

Leon is a contributor the the recently published book, Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief (edited by Elliot Cosgrove, Jewish Lights, 2010) and has also contributed a chapter to Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism. Leon is a member of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s North American Scholars’ Circle. He was recently selected as one of four editors of the forthcoming Reform High Holiday prayer book to be published in 2015.

At the beginning of May 2010, Leon became the first resident rabbi of TempleAdas Israel, a historic synagogue in Sag Harbor, New York that he had served during the summers for the past ten years. He now lives in Sag Harbor, with his wife, Dasee Berkowitz, a Jewish educator, their son, Tamir and daughter, Yael.

Click Here for a list of Rabbi Morris's articles and lectures.

Rabbi's Study: 631-899-3718; Email: leonalanmorris@gmail.com

Our Cantor

 Julia Katz is a fourth year cantorial student at Hebrew Union College's School of Sacred Music; she will be invested as a cantor in 2012.

Julia grew up in West Hartford, and began singing from a young age, participating in community choirs and local theater groups, and studying voice at the Hartt School of Music. She went on to major in voice at the Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts, a half-day magnet high school. For her undergraduate work, she attended New England Conservatory as a classical voice major, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelors of Music. Prior to attending Hebrew Union College (HUC), she taught at Kehillath Israel Nursery school in Brookline, MA and sang with Zamir Chorale in Boston, MA.

Since beginning her studies at HUC in 2007, her student cantorial duties have led her to positions in Plano, Texas and B'nai Jeshurun and Temple Shaaray Tefilah in Manhattan.  

Email: juliarckatz@gmail.com