Rabbi Robert Pilavin

A native Bostonian, Rabbi Robert Pilavin is a 1978 graduate of Brandeis University, having earned his undergraduate degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.

Rabbi Pilavin received his first ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1984, where he also pursued doctoral studies in Jewish liturgy. He received a subsequent ordination in 2004 from the Institute of Traditional Judaism, with semikha conferred upon him by the renowned Talmudic scholar Rav David Weiss Halivni.

Currently rabbi at the Sons of Israel traditional synagogue in Manalapan, NJ, since 2003, Rabbi Pilavin began his career in the pulpit in 1984, serving in Poughkeepsie, NY, and then the Fresh Meadows Jewish Center in Queens, before accepting a position at the Jewish Community Center of Spring Valley, NY, where he presided from 1987-2003.

Rabbi Pilavin has served on the boards of the Jewish Federation of Rockland County, the Rockland Institute for Special Education (Yeshivat Ohr V'Daas), and the UTJ.  He has also been a member of the editorial board of the Rockland Jewish Reporter and past president of the Rockland Board of Rabbis.  He is currently the president of Morashah, the rabbinic arm of the UTJ.

He and his wife, Maxine, are the parents of three children: Channah, Moshe and Sara.