© Temple Israel of Riverhead - all rights reserved
Temple Israel of Riverhead
Previously,
Rabbi
Rascoe
has
served
congregations
in
Indiana,
Michigan,
Illinois,
New
Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
and
Texas,
always
becoming
actively
involved
in
the
surrounding
communities.
When
you
get
to
know
him,
you
will
learn
that
our
Rabbi
has
a
passion
for
social
justice
and
education.
One
could
say
that
he
is
an
activist
at
heart,
having
embraced
public
service
as
well
as
education,
both
which
have
been
cornerstones
of
his
rabbinical
career.
He
has
been
active
in
interfaith
dialogue,
minority
relations,
and
prison
religious
policy,
and
has
served
as
a
consultant
on
academic
and
government
projects,
and
as
an
advisor on counseling and medical ethics issues.
Some
of
the
areas
where
he
has
participated
include
serving
as
a
member
of
the
Chaplain’s
Advisory
Council
to
the
State
of
Michigan’s
prison
system,
writing
the
Judaism
section
of
the
Michigan
Dept.
of
Corrections
Handbook
of
Religious
Groups,
serving
on
the
Michigan
State
advisory
panel
for
adoption,
serving
on
the
Grand
Rapids
Human
Relations
Commission,
Purdue
University’s
Social
Science
Ethics
Committee,
and
the
ethics
committees
of
both
hospitals
and
hospices
in
the
Greater
Michigan
area.
He
was
instrumental
in
organizing
a
hate
crimes
task
force,
and
a
citywide
program
to
teach
adolescents
entrepreneurial
skills.
Furthermore,
he
organized
a
conference
to
teach
public
school
teachers
about
the
Holocaust,
and
led
many
interfaith
programs
and
dialogue
groups
to
encompass
those
of
the
Jewish,
Christian,
Muslim,
Buddhist,
and
Baha’i
faiths.
During
his
tenure
in
Texas
he
was
the
Associate
Director
of
the
L’Chiam
Center,
an
independent havurah that focused on outreach to unaffiliated Jews as well as converts.