Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner has been our spiritual leader since June 2001, when he arrived from Congregation Ohawe Sholam/Young Israel of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Rabbi Torczyner grew up on Long Island. After high school, he spent two years at Yeshivat Kerem beYavneh, an Israeli "Hesder Yeshiva" which mixes army service with Torah study. On returning to America, Rabbi Torczyner studied at Yeshiva University. After running the gamut of possible majors, Rabbi Torczyner settled on a BA in Computer Science. Rabbi Torczyner also studied toward a Masters in Computer Science at New York University's Courant Institute, while studying toward ordination at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Elchanan Theological Seminary. Rabbi Torczyner sends out two daily educational emails, one containing a “Torah Thought” and the other a Jewish law. To subscribe to either of these free emails, please email Rabbi Torczyner at . Rabbi Torczyner also teaches a wide variety of classes throughout the week, both for the synagogue and for our community’s Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley. Rabbi Torczyner also teaches programs for Project Yachad, a special project of the Allentown Jewish Community Center. For more information please call our office and request our semi-annual Kol Bo schedule of classes and programs. Our rabbi sits on the boards of many local institutions, such as the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, the Jewish Day School, and Jewish Family Service. Rabbi Torczyner heads the Vaad (Rabbinic Leadership Board) for the Hebrew Family League, which oversees the Mikvah, Lehigh Valley Kashrut Commission,  and Chevra Kadisha. Rabbi Torczyner is also the local rabbinic authority for the Allentown Eruv. Rabbi Torczyner serves our community as a spiritual advisor at the Lehigh County Prison, and he teaches classes at our local Muhlenberg College Hillel. The rabbi also writes articles for the Religion column and Op-Ed section of our local newspaper, the Allentown Morning Call. Rabbi Torczyner is also on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, and serves on the OU-RCA Joint Kashrut Commission. Rabbi Torczyner's efforts to spread Torah go beyond our immediate community. He maintains two websites which are designed to spread Torah to anyone interested in increasing his Jewish awareness. One site is called "WebShas;" it provides a topical index to the Talmud (http://www.webshas.org). The other site, called "HaMakor," provides bibliographic references to classic Judaic texts, on a range of popular topics (http://www.hamakor.org). You can find an archive of Rabbi Torczyner's Shabbat derashot here, on his "The Rebbetzin's Husband" blog. Rabbi Torczyner also maintains our "Jobs in the Lehigh Valley" website, accessible here.   Caren Torczyner grew up in Atlanta, and spent a year studying at Michlala Yerushalayim leBanot before attending college. She is a graduate of Yeshiva University's Stern College, and Harvard Law School. Caren practiced law for a time when the Torczyners lived in Rhode Island, and expects to take the Pennsylvania Bar in July '08. Caren plays a strong communal role in Allentown and learns privately with women of the community, even as she raises the Torczyner children.