Why No One Wants to Be a Rabbi Anymore
I was ordained as a Conservative rabbi in 2011. My class—graduates from JTS and AJU—was about 30 strong. Most of us had jobs by the end of the hiring season, but not all. Oddly, the ones left waiting were mostly women—competent, learned, and ready to serve but overlooked. The landscape of the rabbinate was already shifting back then, but we didn’t fully grasp just how much.
Fast forward to 2025, and rabbinical schools that once ordained dozens now graduate eight students a year. The pipeline is drying up. Fewer and fewer young Jews see the rabbinate as a viable path. The question isn’t just why aren’t more people becoming rabbis?—it’s why would anyone want to?
The No-Win Profession
Being a rabbi today feels like stepping onto a battlefield with no clear front lines. Israel, the Jewish homeland, has become the third rail of Jewish politics. Talk about it too much, and you’re accused of being a fanatic; say too little, and you’re complicit in silence. A single comment can alienate half a congregation.
Jewish observance? Another minefield. Kashrut? Most don’t keep it. Shabbat? Attendance dwindles. The question for liberal rabbis today is: if we can’t engage on Israel, ritual, or observance, what’s left? We can talk about tzedakah, sure, but even that can be controversial. In a world where everyone has a take and an online megaphone, rabbis are left wondering if there’s any lane left where they’re truly needed.
Meanwhile, antisemitism is on the rise. Synagogue shootings aren’t theoretical; they’re real, and they’re happening with terrifying frequency. Young Jews thinking about becoming rabbis aren’t just worried about career prospects—they’re wondering if they’ll feel safe in their own sanctuaries.
The Changing Rabbinate
The rabbinate of 2025 is not the rabbinate of 1950. Nothing we can do will bring that world back. Rabbis were once the unquestioned leaders of the Jewish community. Today, leadership is diffuse, decentralized. Independent minyanim, online communities, social media influencers—Jews don’t need to walk through a synagogue’s doors to engage with Jewish life. And many don’t.
At the same time, synagogues are struggling. They need rabbis—desperately—but aren’t sure what kind. Should they be spiritual leaders? Educators? Social workers? CEOs? Fundraisers? The job description keeps expanding, the expectations rising, while the number of those willing to take it on keeps shrinking.
So Why Stay?
At the end of the day, you have to wake up, look in the mirror, and be true to yourself. I stopped worrying about what people think a long time ago—it takes too much time and energy. I turned off Facebook. Not because I blocked you, but because I’m done with the back-and-forth. You can still find me on Instagram or at my personal blog: rabbistevenabraham.com.
Some will say I’m avoiding the fight. That’s fine. But if you need me, I’m here. I’m the most responsive rabbi in Omaha—maybe even North America. Drop me a line, and we’ll talk.
Lastly, to the synagogue board members, the donors, the Federation leaders—I respect you, I honor you. But let’s be clear: you dabble in Jewish continuity while running profitable businesses that donate to Jewish causes. I lose sleep over this every night. It takes years off my life. Disagree with me all you want, but don’t ever question my love of the Jewish people.
The rabbinate is hard. It’s messy. It’s frustrating. And yet, for those of us who are still in it, it’s because we can’t imagine walking away. Not yet.
I totally agree with you,and good you stand up for what you believe, I’m a liberal but not extreme, but I also believe in common sense. I want to say growing up we belong to all three synagogues at different times and when my kids went to Temple Israel we had Rabbi Brooks who you remind me of and I loved him he was a scholar but also a man with common sense. Stay on the path you’re on. I also want to take the time to thank you for listening to me about my son, sorry that he didn’t reach out to you, but I guess he wasn’t ready. Hope you understand.
I get and understand both sides of this issue. In some cases, like mine, there are no synagogues within the prescribed walking distance and it would require driving on Shabbat, which our household does not do; and the one in our town is Reform, very leftist liberal in their political and “religious” teachings which do not fit us at all. I am a retired rabbi and do most of my teaching online these days and find the online Jewish community very engaging and somewhat “communal.” I do miss the days of gathering in person with my fellow Jews in a congregational setting, but fully understand the shift that is occurring in these times.
Sad commentary. For years I have seen exactly what you wrote about. Recently, the Shul on Long Island where I had my Bar Mitzvah went from men and women sitting separately, the Levites participating in the ceremonial washing the hands of the Kohanim and now are Egalitarian. Why? Help me understand this.
Shmuel Ben Aria Lieb Ben Yisroel Ha Levi
RE: Why No One Wants to Be a Rabbi Anymore
Rabbi Steven: Thank you for your thoughtful article. You trained for and are doing an important and demanding job. At a minimum, you support and administer the life events of your congregants including bris/baby naming, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation, Marriage, and Funeral. You also educate about the history of the Jewish people and the meaning of the Torah and Talmud. But sadly, the world outside your synagogue door has changed for the worse. The societal pressure in 2025 on young individuals and families in Gen X/Y/Z and Millennials is enormous and damaging be it economic pressures, health issues, mental health issues, political extremes, and rising antisemitism. I observe this daily with my two adult children, a son and a daughter. Their mother lost her battle to breast cancer back in 2005. This affected all of us in profound ways. My son has been Orthodox observant since freshman year of university. He was Bar Mitzvahed Reform in 1998. He maintains an Orthodox and Kashrut home in the Detroit suburbs with his wife who was a convert to Orthodox Judaism. He is the sole worker in their family as an R&D engineer for Ford Motor Company. He and his wife are raising our four grandsons and three granddaughters. My eldest granddaughter and grandson were both born in Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel. They are members of an Orthodox temple in Detroit. My daughter lives in NYC. She was also Bat Mitzvahed Reform in 1998. She is unmarried and is lonely in her life at age 39.5 and went through a difficult breakup with a former Jewish fiancé. She is temple unaffiliated but joins many Jewish young adults in NYC for Shabbat dinner gatherings and events. I was a widower for eleven years. I was in two LTRs with Jewish women in Chicago for a couple of years each but both relationships ended with mutual agreement. I started a new relationship in late 2015 with a Taiwanese/Canadian woman who is Christian observant. We married in December, 2016 and are now in our eighth year of an interfaith happy marriage. I am 20 years senior to my wife at age 71. We live in Taichung, Taiwan. Taiwan has a Jewish presence and community in Taipei with two synagogues with a cultural center and one Chabad rabbi. We have almost zero antisemitism here. The quality of life here than USA is better and pace of society a bit less than the USA despite the fact that Taiwan is a top STEM country. To end, we are guided and have been uplifted by our four late relatives from Canada who were all Holocaust survivors and lived high quality and satisfying lives after liberation. My late father’s first cousin Zena Suchter is one of these survivors, by a miracle survived Auschwitz, and was from Radom, Poland. Zena’s father David and my paternal grandfather Israel were brothers. Unbeknownst to me at the time of his birth, my son was also named David and honors Zena’s late father. Luckily, my son David as a teenager had a chance to meet Zena and her survivor husband Zigmund in Toronto, ON in 2001.
Wow, Steven.
Powerful.
I really have no adequate response.
Your words sadden me. . .
חזק ואמץ ידידי סעדיה, העם היהודי ללא ספק צריך יותר אנשים מסורים כמוך, אנשי אמת, אנשי צדק.
אנחנו איתך ואתה איתנו, . גאה בך ובכל עבודת הקודש שאתה עושה.
I understand your frustration and pain
We have lost touch with the core of Judaism Torah and ritual worship
Not tikun Olam and entertainment !
Not fund raising but spiritual raising!
We need you as senior Rabbi and an Associate Rabbi and a a Hazan
Let’s talk soon
Let’s make Judaism meaningful again
If not now when? If not us who!
I’m taking you up on your writing and reaching out to connect. I have a couple of questions about your post and otherwise wanted to check in.