Our Rabbi

Rabbi Leonard Zukrow is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he earned a BS degree in social work and Hebrew Studies. His master’s degree in Jewish Education and Educational Leadership is from Spertus College and the University of Illinois- Chicago.

As an educator, Rabbi Zukrow was a teacher in schools in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Boca Raton, and San Bernardino. In addition to his work as an instructor, Rabbi Zukrow was a curriculum writer for the Chicago Board of Jewish Education.

Rabbi Zukrow attended Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles where he was ordained in 2005. He served pulpits in Pensacola, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada and Munster, Indiana prior to his retirement in 2020.

In addition to his rabbinic work, Rabbi Zukrow obtained training as a hospital chaplain in Oak Lawn, Illinois at Christ Hospital where he focused on emergency and trauma care. Recently he was a chaplain with Tranquility Hospice of Highland, Indiana.

Active in social justice, Rabbi Zukrow serves on the board of the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. He was a board member of Hospice of the Calumet Area. He is a member of the Munster Area Clergy where he chaired the annual community Thanksgiving Service. He is also a member of the Interfaith Clergy Council of Gary, as well as the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the Chicago Association of Reform Rabbis.

He is married to Karen, who retired after many years as a school therapist and social worker.  Rabbi Zukrow has two married children: his daughter, Rachel and her husband, Jonah live in Washington, D.C. His son, Michael and his wife Isabel live in Brooklyn, New York with their son Noah who is Rabbi Zukrow’s first grandchild. 

Rabbi Zukrow enjoys gardening and cooking. Rabbi Zukrow has been the “Chanukah Rabbi” on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. He enjoys theater, opera, and is a sports fan for his hometown Wisconsin teams. 

To the Members of Temple Sholom of Marquette, Michigan, and Congregations of the Upper Peninsula:

I am honored and humbled to be engaged as your rabbi. This is an historic moment for this congregation and community, as for the first time you entered placement to select your rabbi rather than the assignment of a student rabbi from HUC Cincinnati. 

I thank the members of the board and search committee for their time and effort in this process and the confidence you place in me to be your spiritual leader. Temple Beth Sholom has been blessed with wonderful and talented student rabbis who have become distinguished leaders in our Reform Movement thanks to the opportunity you provided them to learn and grow their skills, talents, and capacities.

As an ordained rabbi, I pray that I my training, learning, experience, skills, and talents will come to serve you in the same way, and I hope more. 

We join in a marriage, a partnership that calls upon us to be open and honest with and for each other as we journey together creating a meaningful Jewish experience for the Jews of the Upper Peninsula in general and Temple Beth Sholom of Marquette in particular.

My task initially will be to listen and learn from you. Seek to hear what you have done, what has worked and where you seek to go in being a holy community. Avodah in Modern Hebrew means work, in Biblical Hebrew it is service referencing the sacrifices in the ancient Temple today in the form of the prayers of our hearts.

Once I learn from you what is in your hearts and what you desire for your Jewish life, we can begin to craft the worship, learning and experiences that will fill your lives with your Jewish learning and Jewish living.

To be successful, we need to be storytellers – our own for and with each other and then to hear the stories of our ancestors throughout time that bring ancient wisdom to a challenging world filled both with opportunity and challenge.

Organizational religious life both ours and our neighbors faces daunting forces that require us to be as creative and resourceful as we can to create reasons for engagement in Jewish life. The efforts you invested in this search process demonstrate to me and I hope in reflection to you that this holy work is possible and doable. 

Karen and I look forward to sharing our lives with you and your lives with us. We Jews are a tribal people and support of each other for the good of the tribe is a hallmark of our history and existence. As we engage in building relationships, we will discover the holiness of a God who is ever present in and with us a God who is present in all moments of our existence as we strive toward lives of purpose and meaning.

My prayer is for the Holy One of Blessing to bestow strength and support to all of us on this journey.

So, let’s begin.

With blessings,

Rabbi Leonard Zukrow