Rabbi Emerita Ellie Shemtov
|
Rabbi Ellie Shemtov served as our rabbi from July 2019 through June 2025.
Rabbi Ellie Shemtov was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) in Yonkers, New York in May 2014. Growing up in Colonia, New Jersey, Rabbi Shemtov attended Hillel Academy Jewish Day School in Perth Amboy. She studied flute at Ithaca College in New York and received her Bachelor’s degree in Music and Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rabbi Shemtov worked for many years as a film librarian/archivist at a variety of institutions in the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, where she was Head of Film Cataloging. The daughter of Israelis with deep roots in Israel, Rabbi Shemtov’s paternal great-grandfather, Avraham Yitzhak arrived in Palestine in the 1880’s. Part of an early Zionist agricultural movement known as the BILU-- Beit Ya’akov Lechu V’Nelcha, “Let the House of Jacob Go” (Isa. 2:5), Avraham Yitzhak was one of the founders of the city of Hadera. |
A Jewish presence on the Internet since 1996, Rabbi Shemtov created and designed the website, Ellie’s Torah Trope Tutor, a tool for teaching others how to chant Torah, Haftorah, and the Megillot. While there are many other web sites that teach the art of cantillation, Ellie’s Torah Trope Tutor was the first of its kind.
Before arriving at the Rutland Jewish Center, Rabbi Shemtov served congregations in Freehold, New Jersey, Long Beach, New York and Lexington Park, Maryland.
Before arriving at the Rutland Jewish Center, Rabbi Shemtov served congregations in Freehold, New Jersey, Long Beach, New York and Lexington Park, Maryland.