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Rabbi Richard Steinberg

Shir Ha-Ma’alot Congregation

Rabbi Richard Steinberg is the dynamic and transformative leader of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot, since 2001. At that time, the congregation consisted of less than 300 member families. Today, it is a thriving Congregation of over 625 families with Orange County’s largest Religious School. He works diligently at providing a warm, caring, and educational environment for people to grow in all ways. Through creating an interactive partnership with the laity, Rabbi Steinberg is literally fashioning a place that people call home.

It has been said of CSHM, “This is the place where children bring their parents.” Teaching our children the values and virtues of Judaism is the number one priority to Rabbi Steinberg. Everyone is welcome at every service. He is very serious when he speaks of the Temple’s motto “A Lifetime of Belonging.” Temple is not a one stop shop to Rabbi Steinberg, but rather the place where one can come to feel rooted and part of something bigger than themselves. He believes that when one comes to Temple, they ought to feel better when they leave than when they walked in. He believes that Temples ought to meet people where they are and then take them on the journey of the spirit, and that Judaism ought to be compelling and relevant in one’s life, otherwise there is no purpose in practicing.

Born and raised in Northern California, Rabbi Steinberg has a varied and accomplished past. Graduating from the California State University system with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and minor in Sociology. After working for a police department for a year, he decided to focus on a different kind of law – the law of the soul. As a graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he became the assistant rabbi at the historic congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Isaac M. Wise Temple – the place where Reform Judaism was founded.

Member, Central Conference of American Rabbis Board of Trustees Member, Children’s Hospital of Orange County Mental Health Advisory Board
Member, CCAR/URJ Placement Commission
Commissioner, Chair Orange County Human Relations Commission Chaplain of the Irvine Police Department
Executive Board, Orange County Sheriff’s Interfaith Religious Council Executive Board, Aipac Orange County
Past-president, Jewish Association of Special Needs
Past-president, Orange County Board of Rabbis

He holds an MAHL; A Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters – and – Ordination as a Rabbi – and – an MFT; Master of Arts in Marital Family Therapy and is a licensed psychotherapist.