July 19, 2005

OU Names Rabbi Daniel Korobkin Director of Community and Synagogue Services for West Coast Region

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, spiritual leader of Kehillat Yavneh, has been named Orthodox Union West Coast Director of Community and Synagogue Services, based at the OU’s West Coast Region headquarters in Los Angeles. The announcement was made by OU President Stephen J. Savitsky and Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, Director of the West Coast Region.

Rabbi Korobkin, who will continue with his duties at Kehillat Yavneh, will assume his OU responsibilities on August 1. The West Coast Region includes the Pacific Coast states, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Western Canada.

His appointment comes as the OU’s national Department of Community and Synagogue Services in New York, in response to the burgeoning array of programs developed by the OU for its constituencies across North America, is now operating under the joint leadership of OU veterans Rabbi Mayer Waxman, who was recently named Director of Synagogue Services, and Frank Buchweitz, newly named Director of Community Services and Special Projects.

The Department, in turn, reports to Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, OU Executive Director of Programming.

“Rabbi Korobkin is an outstanding rabbi, scholar and community leader. His addition to our professional staff will enhance our ability to positively impact upon our member-synagogues and communities, not only on the West Coast, but nationwide. We look forward to his involvement with our team that is serving our shuls around North America,” Rabbi Krupka declared.

“The appointment of Rabbi Korobkin, taken together with the joint appointments in New York, reflects the extraordinary ferment in the OU’s Community and Synagogue Services area, as we expand our programs to our congregations in the United States and Canada so they, in turn, can better serve their local constituencies,” explained Mr. Savitsky, the OU President.

Mr. Savitsky, who is a frequent visitor to the West Coast, added, “Rabbi Korobkin, who has given Kehillat Yavneh five years of distinguished and dedicated service, is just the right person to travel the West Coast Region, working with his fellow pulpit rabbis and synagogue lay leadership to bring OU services to them, and to respond to their needs.”

Rabbi Korobkin, who grew up in Los Angeles, has also served congregations in San Diego (Young Israel of San Diego), and Allentown, PA (Congregation Sons of Israel); after a 15-year absence, he returned to Los Angeles five years ago to assume his position at Kehillat Yavneh. Rabbi Korobkin is also a community mohel, and West Coast Vice President for the Rabbinical Council of America, the rabbinical counterpart of the OU; he is the author of a translation of the Kuzari, a 12th century philosophical work by Yehuda Ha-Levi of Spain, which will be published in the next year by Feldheim Books. He and his wife, Karen, have nine children.

According to Rabbi Kalinsky, the OU’s West Coast Regional Director, Rabbi Korobkin will “engage in direct contact with OU synagogue rabbis and presidents throughout the Region, assess the needs of the congregations, provide input on how OU programs and activities can benefit the shuls, and assist in developing new initiatives in addition to enhancing existing programs. He will also serve as liaison to the Los Angeles and other Jewish Federations. Having served as a pulpit rabbi for many years he is uniquely qualified to serve as a mentor to young rabbis who serve our congregations.”

Rabbi Korobkin plans to work closely with his colleagues in New York on bringing national programs to the West Coast, and to share West Coast initiatives with synagogues around North America.

As an active and experienced pulpit rabbi, who loves his job “with a passion,” he will be able to relate closely to his rabbinical counterparts throughout the Region in dealing with their concerns. He will do so while balancing the demands of his two jobs -- maintaining his role at Kehillat Yavneh while taking on a very busy new responsibility.

Rabbi Korobkin is eager to meet that challenge.

“I’m looking forward to being part of the most important organization in the Orthodox Jewish world and I hope that in doing so I will be able to make a significant impact on the OU’s constituencies,” Rabbi Korobkin said.

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin

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The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 400,000 products manufactured in 83 countries around the globe.

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