More than 250 rabbis and cantors have been ordained at JSLI, and in our most recent alumni survey almost 90% of the graduates who responded are working professionally as spiritual leaders. Most of them came to us in the middle of full lives, with careers, families and communities they weren’t going to leave. Here are a few of their stories, and the work they’re doing now.
Rabbi Brian Serle: from lay leader to pulpit rabbi
Brian Serle spent decades serving Jewish communities as an educator and lay leader before he became a rabbi. He spent nearly fifteen years as a Jewish educator and lay leader at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later served as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In his own words, he came to the rabbinate after “a successful 40-year career in financial services” to pursue a lifelong dream.
While he studied at JSLI, he was already leading Congregation Sons of Abraham in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the local nightly news came to cover his Hanukkah celebration. He was ordained with JSLI’s Class #18 in 2020. He went on to serve as Director of Education at Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in 2026 he was named spiritual leader of the Joliet Jewish Congregation in Joliet, Illinois.
“JSLI gave me the tools I needed: to draft meaningful Divrei Torah, to lead others in meaningful prayer, and to better understand all the facets of rabbinical work.”
— Rabbi Brian Serle
Rabbi Serle says his JSLI colleagues have been a constant source of help as he prepares for weddings, funerals, b’nei mitzvah and his weekly divrei Torah. His story is a good picture of what JSLI is built for: someone already serving a community who needed the training and the ordination to serve it fully.
Cantor Marjory Appel: bringing the music of prayer to people who can’t come to it
Cantor Marjory Appel has built a ministry that reaches people most synagogues never see. Since her ordination at JSLI, she has served as a spiritual care provider at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, led worship for older adults at Atria Senior Living communities, and served the Jewish population at Rikers Island through worship, pastoral presence and Shabbat programming. She also officiates weddings, funerals and other lifecycle events across the New York area, and this High Holiday season she is serving as cantor at Temple Beth David in Florida.
“Given my mission to bring the music of prayer to those who don’t have access, this work has been truly rewarding. It is a privilege to help bring spiritual strength to those in need.”
— Cantor Marjory Appel
Cantor Appel credits both her JSLI education and her continuing chaplaincy training with helping her find a confident and authentic spiritual voice. Read the full story.
Rabbi Norman Maybloom: following his father and grandfather
For Norman Maybloom, ordination at JSLI fulfilled a quest of 35 years and let him follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who were both rabbis. After ordination he served the Clearbrook Jewish Congregation, leading Shacharit services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, reading Torah and blowing shofar, and officiating funerals, a baby naming and an interfaith wedding.
“My Rabbinic ordination from JSLI allowed me to fulfill a quest of 35 years. I was encouraged along the path by Rabbi Steven Blane and my fellow Rabbinical students from diverse backgrounds… I am now a religious leader to my retirement community housing about 1,000 Jewish senior citizens.”
— Rabbi Norman Maybloom
More JSLI graduates in the pulpit
- Rabbi Craig Mayers was chosen by his own congregation to become its rabbi after 15 years as a lay leader, teacher and musician. Ordained at JSLI in 2018, he leads Temple Beth Sholom, the largest and oldest congregation on Florida’s Space Coast.
- Rabbi Mike Moshe Mymon, an aerospace engineer and former Israeli paratrooper, was ordained in 2021 and is rabbi of Congregation Sholom in Seal Beach, California.
- Rabbi Judy Caplan Ginsburgh, ordained in 2014, serves as full-time rabbi of Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim in Alexandria, Louisiana, the congregation she grew up in.
- Rabbi Richard Perlman, ordained in 2012, founded the West Bay Community Jewish Center in Rhode Island.
Several of these graduates now teach at JSLI. Meet them on our Faculty page, read more testimonials, or see the latest graduate news on our News page.
Could your story be next?
If you’re already serving your community, or you’ve felt the call for years and couldn’t see a way to answer it, read Becoming a Rabbi as a Second Career, and then talk with us.