Meet Rabbi Shai Specht-Sandler, SOJC's new rabbi

Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation has a new full-time rabbi. Rabbi Shai Specht-Sandler will officially begin his tenure at SOJC on July 1, 2025.

Rabbi Shai's life experiences span the Jewish world, as well as the globe itself.

"I was born in Israel and left at 13," he said, "then spent my formative years in Manchester, England and the United States. I come from a proudly pluralistic and Masorti background, both Sephardi and Ashkenazi, and from a long line of educators and rabbis... [I've] studied in both Orthodox yeshivot and pluralistic institutions, and each one, in its own way, deepened...