Associate Rabbi David Steinberg
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Rabbi David grew up in New York City, where he attended Orthodox Hebrew schools, and Suffolk County, Long Island, where he became Bar Mitzvah and then served as a regular Torah reader at a Conservative synagogue. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. in music, 1983) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1987). He practiced law in Portland, Maine from 1987-91, during which time he was very active in USCJ-affiliate Temple Beth El as a Hebrew school teacher, cantorial soloist, Brotherhood co-president and Board member.

At the age of 30 he decided to give up law practice to study at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he was ordained in 1997. He served as spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Israel in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania from 1996-98 (first as a student rabbi, later as a "full-fledged" rabbi), and as Hillel director for Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges in 1998-99. He arrived in the Champlain Valley in August 1999, beginning a six-year stint as rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Plattsburgh, New York.

2005 was a big year for Rabbi David, with his Vermont civil union and Jewish marriage to Peter Blackmer (a seventh-generation Vermonter), and his move to Ohavi Zedek to take up the newly-created post of associate rabbi.

Rabbi David serves as Principal of Ohavi Zedek's Hebrew School. His other major role is to serve as the congregation's Cantor and principal torah reader, which includes working with bar and bat mitzvah students on the musical and liturgical aspects of their preparation. In addition, he acts as OZ's liaison to the Vermont Chai School (a joint project of Ohavi Zedek and Temple Sinai open to students in grades eight through twelve) and assists Rabbi Joshua in providing rabbinic coverage as needed. Rabbi David's personal interests include running, viola playing, reading Canadian fiction and doing the New York Times crossword puzzle.