Welcome to the Rabbi's Study

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999. Thereafter he spent two years as a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow for Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City and three as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Israel in Kingston, New York, before becoming the spiritual leader of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center in 2003. He plays percussion, teaches Yoga and Torah and is trained as a Jewish meditation teacher.

Rabbi Grater’s work is a balance of activism, tikkun olam, and spiritual discipline. As an activist, he is involved in local social justice causes, often with interfaith coalitions. His writings have been published in Tikkun and on SocialAction.com. He is a regular Torah contributor to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. He is an executive council member of the Southern California Board of Rabbis and chair of the social action committee, a member of the Rabbinic Council of the Southern California branch of Americans for Peace Now, serves on the board of Brit Tzedek V’shalom and is the chair of its Los Angeles chapter, as well as being on the board of the Chaim Weizmann Community Day School, and on the Advisory Board of The JustVision Project. He is a proponent of contemplative prayer in his own synagogue and in the general community. He lives in Pasadena, California with his wife and two children.