Rabbi Stephen A. Klein, the spiritual leader of the
congregation, is a graduate of the University of Rochester, magna cum
laude, and was ordained in 1974 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, the rabbinical school of the Reform movement.
Before coming to Scarsdale in 1981 he served at Temple Emanu-el of Great
Neck and The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland.
Rabbi Klein is active in Jewish and communal affairs. He
has served as the chairman of the Admissions Committee of the Central
Conference of American Rabbis, and is a member of the National Commission
of Rabbinic-Congregational Relations, which mediates disputes and resolves
conflicts between Rabbis and their congregations. Rabbi Klein is a member
of the recently-formed Mentoring Program of the CCAR Rabbinical Placement
Commission, which guides and teaches colleagues recently ordained. He was
President of the Westchester Board of Rabbis, which brings together the
Rabbis of all denominations to work for the common good of the community.
He is actively involved with Westchester-UJA Federation.
Always interested in our youth, Rabbi Klein was the
Rabbinic Advisor to the Westchester Federation of Temple Youth, the
regional youth group for Reform Jewish teens, and is a member of the Camp
Commission for the Eisner Camp-Institute, a summer camp and conference
center run by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
Rabbi Klein involves himself in communal activities as well. He has served
on the Education Committee for Camp Eisner, and spent many summers on
staff at the camp. He was a Board Member of the Counseling Center of
Southern Westchester, a member of the Ad-Hoc Scarsdale Clergy-Human
Relations Creche Committee, and the Scarsdale Japan Festival Committee.
He served on the Ardsley Board of Education Advisory Committee on Health,
and is Chaplain for the Ardsley Volunteer Fire Department. He is a member
of the Congregational School Task Force of the United Jewish Communities
in the Greater New York area. Following September 11, he served as a Red
Cross Chaplin at the Family Assistance Center in New York City, and is
being trained as a spiritual disaster care provider. He has pursued
advanced coursework in counseling, pastoral care and social work.
Rabbi Klein's wife, Joanne, is the School Nurse at the
Concord Road Elementary School in Ardsley. They have two sons - Robert has
a faculty position at Rockefeller University in New York, and Jeffrey,
married to a Cantorial student, has an MSW degree.
