Rabbi

Maralee Gordon is no stranger to MCJC. Rabbi Gordon, her husband Leo Schlosberg, and their three sons have been affiliated with MCJC since 1986 when they moved to Woodstock, IL, from Chicago. Just weeks after moving to the area, Maralee found herself on the teaching staff at MCJC. She took over as principal of the MCJC religious school in 1989, a position she held until 1996.

When Rabbi Gordon decided she wanted to play a larger role in synagogue life, she sought out a seminary program offered by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York designed for those wanting to embark on a second career as a rabbi. The program allowed her the flexibility of spending her first two years at the University of Chicago, where she earned a masters in Jewish Studies (she also holds a B.A. in New Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University). She then began a three-year stint commuting four days a week to the academy in New York.

She remembers the arrangement as offering a nice balance between the frenetic excitement of New York, which is nice in small doses, and bucolic Woodstock. She earned her Rabbinical Degree from the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2001. While still in the seminary, Maralee became a part-time Rabbi with Congregation Beth Shalom in DeKalb where she served for five years. In 2004, Rabbi Gordon returned ‘home’ to MCJC, becoming its Rabbi and spiritual leader.

Rabbi Gordon has long been active in the Jewish and social action communities. She currently serves as a teacher in the Florence Melton Adult Mini-Schools, and is affiliated with the Chicago Board of Rabbis, the Women's Rabbinic Network of Chicago and the De Kalb County Partners for Justice. She formerly served as director of the Social Justice Religious Resource Network and on several Jewish education advisory boards.

You may contact Rabbi Gordon by phone at 815.455.1810 or by email.