CHESTER – Rabbi Marci Bellows has been appointed spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek (CBSRZ) in Chester, it was announced recently by the congregation’s president, Stephen Davis. Rabbi Bellows will take over religious leadership of the synagogue on July 1, 2016.

“Rabbi Bellows will bring song, courage, excitement and wisdom to our community,” said Davis. “We are delighted to welcome another great leader to follow Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg.”

Goldenberg, who served the Chester shul for the past nine years, moved on to establish a new congregation in the New York metropolitan area that will focus on implementing innovative styles of worship aimed at involving young, unaffiliated Jews.

“As I begin a new chapter in my rabbinate, and as our family moves to a new community, I’m filled with gratitude for the time we have had here in the beautiful Connecticut River Valley,” Goldenberg said as she prepared to leave Connecticut. “Our time at CBSRZ has been filled with meaningful moments of learning, celebration and connections.”

Before joining CBSRZ, Bellows served for seven years as spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh, New York, a synagogue with some 400 families. Prior to that, she was an assistant rabbi and director of adult programs at Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York. Bellows has written for New York Jewish Week and the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) “10 Minutes of Torah.” She was a faculty member at URJ’s Crane Lake Camp and a participant in various URJ programs. A native of Skokie, Illinois, Bellows is a graduate of Brandeis University in and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

“It is truly an honor and pleasure to be selected as the next rabbi at CBSRZ. The congregation, known for its warmth, wisdom, and wide variety of programming, is beautiful inside and out. I look forward to being part of its distinguished legacy and impact on the area,” Bellows said.