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Rabbi Gary Robuck
Rabbi Robuck was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies from The Ohio State University and his MAHL and Rabbinical Ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1988. Rabbi Robuck was admitted to the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) in 1997 and is a former Chaplain in the United States Naval Reserve. In 2000, he was presented the Close-Caputo Educator of Humanity Award. He received his Doctor of Divinity, Honorus Causa from HUC-JIR in March 2013.
Rabbi Robuck has served as Senior Rabbi, chazzan, Head of School and Bal koreh (Torah reader) of North Shore Temple Emanuel (Sydney, Australia, Progressive) and Congregation Shaarey Tikvah (Cleveland, Ohio, Conservative).
Rabbi Robuck has served both as President of the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis and Chair of the Moetzah (Rabbinical Union of Rabbis in Australia, NZ and Asia). He has been recognized wherever he has worked for his deep commitment to Klal Yisrael and for his creative innovations in worship, education and programming. His work in the pulpit and in the classroom and in both formal and informal Jewish educational settings, reveals the rabbi’s uncommon ability to establish an easy and effective rapport with learners of all ages.
Rabbi Robuck is the Founder of "Face to Face", an award-winning Holocaust Education Initiative - reaching out to non-Jewish teens (Cleveland, Ohio), “Close Encounters of the Jewish Kind” (Sydney) and written, together with the Jewish Board of Deputies, “A Mitzvah of Memory” designed for Bar and Bat mitzvah age children and their families. Rabbi Robuck is also Chair of Mazon, Australia, a Jewish Response to Hunger, in cooperation with the Union of Progressive Judaism.
A gifted writer, Rabbi Robuck’s editorials have appeared often n the Cleveland Jewish News, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and The Australian Jewish News. In 2003 he published his first book, Notes from the Rabbi’s Desk, an insightful and personal look at topics of lasting importance to Judaism and our society.
In addition to his other interests, Rabbi Robuck is a pianist and vocalist. He appears on stage, together with his wife Jocelyn, performing concerts to benefit various charitable agencies. His original show, "Verities and Balderdash: the Life and Music of Harry Chapin", was produced in association with (the) Harry Chapin Foundation of Huntington, New York.
More recently, the rabbi has established First Step Tutoring, an on-line and Sydney wide educational service teaching Hebrew and training students for Bar and Bat Mitzvah, and has earned CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) through UTS: INSEARCH and University of Cambridge. He and Jocelyn are currently working to establish Australian Jewry’s first fully dedicated Jewish retreat centre.