Contact Rabbi Adler at 609-896-4977
Rabbi Benjamin Adler has been the spiritual leader of Adath Israel Congregation since 2014. He is passionate about being present and guiding individuals and families through the sweetness, sorrows, challenges, and opportunities of Jewish life. Drawing on the ancient wisdom of the tradition and the progressive values of modern Judaism, he has spent years building and sustaining warm, committed, and caring communities that support each member as they find their own unique spiritual path.
A graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City where he earned a master’s degree in Jewish Philosophy, Rabbi Adler also studied at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he graduated cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in History.
Before entering rabbinical school, he worked for Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City and spent time working in the digital media world. Rabbi Adler has served congregations in Rockaway, New Jersey, Pittsfield, Massachusetts and Greenport, New York.
He has served as president of the Board of Rabbis of Princeton Mercer Bucks, vice president of the New Jersey Rabbinical Assembly, on the board of trustees of the Gottesman RTW Academy, and on the Religious Pluralism committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey. Rabbi Adler co-founded the Rockaway Interfaith Community, worked with the New Jersey Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee and Clergy of Lawrence Township, and helped plan a conference that trained Conservative rabbis in the skills of community organizing.
When he is not teaching, preaching, and leading his congregation, Rabbi Adler can probably be found following the San Antonio Spurs, reading, watching a good movie or TV show, fixing things around the house, or on the slopes in the winter. He is married to Lisa Adler and they have three children: Ronen, Jonah, and Miya.
Photo credit: Mike Schwartz
Click on the title of the articles below to read on Rabbi Adler’s website
- It’s the Crime November 13, 2025In politics, one of the rules is that it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up. For some reason, the attempt to keep the offense quiet becomes more of a scandal than the offense itself. But why is this the case? The cover-up erodes the public’s trust. If you don’t believe that your leaders are telling […]
- Two Body Problem October 31, 2025Israel is like Nebraska. You probably are wondering where this is going because you don’t normally think of the Cornhusker State and the Jewish State in the same breath. In terms of climate, geography, demographics, and culture, these two places are nothing alike, except that each state has a unicameral legislature. Unlike the 49 other […]
- Dash Your Dreams October 23, 2025Everyone wants to know if the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold. On the one hand, there are reasons to be skeptical. Hamas still hasn’t handed over all the deceased hostages and says it won’t disarm. Israeli forces are still in Gaza and likely to face off against militants, which could reignite the […]
- Celebrating Our Blessings October 16, 2025As an historic week for Israel and the Jewish people comes to an end, I have been reflecting on the various reactions to the release of all of the living hostages and some of the bodies from Gaza along with a ceasefire in the war. In Israel there is great joy at the return, expressed […]
- It’s Alive October 9, 2025On Rosh Hashanah I spoke about how the idea of a two-state solution is one that exists in potential, waiting to be implemented. Many describe it as being “alive” or “dead” or “on life support”, but these phrases imply that the concept has some agency of its own. In fact, the two-state solution, like peace, […]
- Penumbras and Emanations September 25, 2025As you might imagine, the High Holy Days are exhausting for rabbis. While on Shabbat and holidays I often get a chance to read extensively, on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur my time is spent either leading services, sleeping, or eating. I might get a page of reading in before I doze off. This year […]
- Better Than a Lawn Sign September 18, 2025Many presidential campaigns ago, my wife and I were having a conversation with another person when the topic of political endorsements came up. A group of rabbis had gotten together to endorse one of the candidates. I said that I would never endorse a candidate from the bima, and that even though I still have […]
- Quiet Win September 11, 2025In a week filled with unrelenting violence – the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Israel’s bombing of Hamas leaders in Doha that seems not to have succeeded, more Houthi attacks against Israel – there was one bit of bright news. Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University PhD student working in Iraq on human rights, who had been […]
- Lost in Translation September 4, 2025Last week, I wrote about the great promise of artificial intelligence to aid in translation, thereby opening up avenues of study and exploration in languages we don’t speak. I asserted that I could simply upload an article in Hebrew and ChatGPT would translate it almost instantaneously. After I wrote the piece, I decided to try […]
- Important to Read August 28, 2025In one of my classes in rabbinical school, I was given the assignment of writing a paper on a primary source. The text I chose required reading a rather long academic article in Hebrew. At that point I hadn’t spent a year in Israel which meant my Hebrew was rather weak, so I skipped the […]