Clergy

Rabbi Jackson grew up in Boston, MA. He has had the good fortune to live, work, and study in many places in this country and world, including Upstate New York, Philadelphia, Jerusalem, Montreal, and Cincinnati. Before being ordained in the Rabbinate, Jonathan was a cultural anthropologist, and taught anthropology, cultural, and Islamic and Qur’an studies at Syracuse University. He also served as a Lecturer in World Religions at Ithaca College, taught social sciences at Delaware Valley University, and Hebrew and Jewish studies at Xavier University. His love of education and helping communities grow led him to work as a teacher first through Teach for America in the Mid-Atlantic and then in schools for underprivileged youth in Philadelphia, including Girard College.

Rabbi Jackson studied for the Rabbinate first at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College near Philadelphia, and continued his studies to ordination at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, Cincinnati, and Jerusalem. During his training and early rabbinate Rabbi Jackson has worked in end of life and palliative chaplaincy positions, memory-loss support communities, universities, and traditional community pulpits. His particular passion is for rural Jewish life and helping it flourish and evolve in its wonderful diversity.

He has served Jewish communities in Upstate New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. Most immediately before coming to Dothan to serve at our own Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Jackson was the Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel – Shaare Zedek in Lima, Ohio and the Jewish Chaplain at Denison University. He considers himself blessed and lucky to have found his current pulpit and to serve in such a wonderful community as Dothan. In Dothan, his hobbies include running, hiking, giving his dogs a great life, and animal rescue work.