Rabbi Carmit Harari is our full-time rabbi, having begun her position as TBO’s spiritual leader in the fall of 2008.

The daughter of an Israeli father and American mother, Rabbi Carmit Harari was born in Haifa, Israel and grew up in small Reform congregations in Israel and the United States.

Rabbi Harari grew up an active participant at URJ camp Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where she later served as a counselor and resident director. While in high school, she was also involved in NFTY, the North American Federation of Temple Youth, serving as Religious and Cultural Vice-President of her region.

Rabbi Harari did her undergraduate work at the University of Minnesota and was an active participant at Hillel on campus. After graduation, she worked for Hillel at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, serving as Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow for two years.

Prior to enrolling in rabbinical school, Rabbi Harari worked at the American Hebrew Academy, the first pluralistic Jewish boarding high school in the United States, located in Greensboro, North Carolina. There, she served as Assistant House Master and Assistant Dean of Jewish Life.

Rabbi Harari was ordained at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, in 2008. While a student, she served two years as campus representative to the URJ Joint Commission on Worship, Liturgical Music, and Religious Living. Rabbi Harari also served student congregations in West Virginia, Indiana, and Tennessee.

Rabbi Harari was awarded the Stephen N. Levinson Memorial Prize for significant service to HUC-JIR and its student body. She also completed a rabbinic thesis: "Mishkan T'filah: A History and Cultural Analysis of the Genesis of the Reform Movement's New Prayer Book."