Rabbi

Sixth & I is seeking a full-time Rabbi to join our Jewish Life team to creatively and thoughtfully contribute to our wide array of programs serving over 6,000 people in their 20s and 30s annually. Reporting to the Senior Rabbi, Executive Director of Jewish Life and supervising the Director of Community Engagement, this role will oversee much of Sixth & I’s deeply impactful community-building endeavors including managing our nationally renowned Jewish Welcome Workshop for newcomers to Judaism; building on Sixth & I’s two decades of success working with interfaith couples; and providing pastoral support and educational opportunities.

This position must be located in the Washington, DC area to accommodate on-site events and pastoral work.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Vision and Strategy: Sixth & I prides itself on disrupting the status quo, questioning traditional approaches, and always looking to the future. This position will act as a thought partner to our Senior Rabbi, Executive Director of Jewish Life, devising innovative ways for young people to connect with their Jewish identity and use it as a foundation for building a life of meaning. This position will help set Sixth & I’s vision for a vibrant, inquisitive, and connected next generation of Jews and strategize how to make it a reality.

Education: Over the course of a year, Sixth & I offers over 40 adult education opportunities from one-time classes on timely topics like the Torah of Taylor Swift, to multiweek series on How to Be A Jewish Adult, to our 38-week intensive Jewish Welcome Workshop.  Our classes reach over 1,200 people annually and our recurring offerings have long waitlists.

The Rabbi will:

• Teach one to two nights per week utilizing a combination of existing Sixth & I curricula and new classes of your choosing that use Jewish wisdom to promote personal growth, community building, and changemaking.
• Identify gaps in existing educational offerings and design curriculum to meet those needs and deepen continued learning for those already connected to Sixth & I.
• Manage Sixth & I’s annual Jewish Welcome Workshop cohort including:
  • Interview cohort applicants.
  • Teach select sessions.
  • Coordinate and schedule sessions with multiple guest faculty.
  • Oversee process and scheduling for conversions.
  • Review cohort surveys for feedback to evaluate curriculum and guest faculty.
  • Make updates to curriculum as needed.

Shabbat and Holiday programming: There’s no better way to get people through our doors than with fun, engaging, and accessible programs to celebrate Jewish holidays. Filling our sanctuary with hundreds of people at a time, our Jewish Life team is always dreaming up new ways to draw people in and create fresh and unexpected holiday experiences.

The Rabbi will:

• Create and lead meaningful, accessible prayer experiences for one to two Friday night Shabbat services per month.
• Design and lead High Holiday services for Erev Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur, and Neilah.
• Collaborate with Jewish Life team to design innovative holiday programming and lead those programs as needed and determined by team planning.

• Co-lead Simchat Torah, Purim, and Shavuot programming with Sixth & I’s Senior Rabbi.

Community-building: So many people in their 20s and 30s are looking for community, belonging, and connection. Located in Washington, DC, we have the opportunity to offer people a “third space” to gather, learn, and grow. Sixth & I meets the urgent need for meaningful social experiences by connecting young Jewish adults—especially those new to the idea of community—to a caring group of peers navigating similar life circumstances.

The Rabbi will:

• Serve as direct supervisor to Director of Community Engagement.
• Collaborate with Director of Community Engagement to develop the Jewish Life Team’s community-building strategy to connect newcomers to Sixth & I, Judaism, and each other, while also supporting a connected and caring community for Sixth & I regulars.
• Oversee annual evaluation of community-building strategy and make recommendations for adjustments to increase impact.

Pastoral care: It’s a hard time to be a human being. People are struggling with the state of the world, the state of this country, and the state of the Jewish community. One-on-one sessions with rabbis are an important way we help people make sense of and navigate life's challenges. This role will provide the opportunity to make space for and guide people in their deepest questions and yearnings.

The Rabbi will:

• Meet with students enrolled in Sixth & I’s range of intensive and introductory-level classes, as well as other spiritual seekers in need of rabbinic support and guidance.
• Serve as primary rabbinic contact for interfaith couples within Sixth & I’s community.

WHO YOU ARE

• Experienced. You have at least five years of relevant post-seminary work that includes leading services, teaching adult education classes, and two years of management experience.
• A self-starter. You demonstrate initiative and have a record turning ideas into reality, engaging others to support your vision, proactively solving problems, and being communicative across teams.
• Radically welcoming. You create a safe space for a diversity of views and lived experiences. Though we encourage candidates from all denominations, you must permit mixed-sex seating in prayer services, accept the conversions of Sixth & I rabbis, and be willing to officiate at interfaith marriages for couples creating a Jewish household and LGBTQIA+ couples.
• A lifelong learner. You demonstrate fluency in Jewish texts, a deep love of teaching Torah, and a penchant for innovative learning modalities. You operate with a growth mindset and seek to understand different perspectives.
• Adaptable. You’re dynamic and engaging to a crowd on the bimah and approachable and compassionate one-on-one with community members seeking support. You’re both vulnerable and prophetic at Yom Kippur and silly and irreverent at Purim.
• A team player. You are receptive to feedback and demonstrate care and concern for Sixth & I’s organizational reputation in your approach to work. You thrive in collaborative, team-oriented environments and know how to work with others towards a common goal.

SALARY & BENEFITS

• Salary: $140,000+ dependent on post-seminary work and management experience
• FLSA Status: Exempt
• Benefits: Sixth & I has a competitive benefits package that includes Parsonage, Health, Vision and Dental Insurance, Paid Vacation and Sick Leave, Retirement Savings w/ Matching Program, Pre-tax Transit Benefit, Paid Holidays, Parental Leave, Sabbatical Leave, and more. In addition to regular vacation time and summer Fridays, our office is closed the week of July 4th and between Christmas and New Year’s, as well as for select Jewish holidays.

HOW TO APPLY

We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis. To apply, please submit the following materials to [email protected] with your name and “Rabbi” in the subject line. No phone calls or emails please.

• Resume and cover letter
• Summary of your two favorite classes you have taught, plus any accompanying videos, class outlines, and text studies for each of them
• Video of you giving a sermon (previous live recording in front of people preferred)
• Video or voice recording of you singing a niggun or turn you would teach to a group of newer-to-Judaism folks in their 20s and 30s

Anticipated hiring timeline:

• Applications will be accepted and interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis, but the deadline to apply is Friday, January 30, 2026.
• Candidates will be contacted if there is an opportunity to be interviewed by Friday, February 6.
• We plan to hold three rounds of interviews for this position:
  • First round virtual interviews
  • Second round virtual interviews
  • Finalist in-person interviews at Sixth & I which would include meetings with staff, board members, and community members.
• The anticipated start date for this position is flexible but will be no later than July 1, 2026.

Sixth & I is an equal employment opportunity employer. Systemic inequities in hiring have caused many women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. If you don’t have all of the qualifications listed but are extremely organized, passionate about our mission, and believe you have applicable and transferable skills from other industries, we encourage you to apply for this job.

WHAT IS SIXTH & I?

Sixth & I is a center for arts, entertainment, ideas, and Jewish life in Washington, DC. We inspire more meaningful and fulfilling lives through an unexpected mix of experiences that embrace the multi-faceted identities of those we serve. Housed within a revitalized historic synagogue dating back to 1908 in the heart of the Nation’s Capital, Sixth & I reimagines how culture, community, and Jewish life can enhance people’s everyday lives. Across wide-ranging, thought-provoking, and accessible experiences, we celebrate the unexpected intersections between culture and spirituality and, in so doing, expand our sense of what’s sacred.

Our Jewish programming—including education, Shabbat services, holiday celebrations, and social justice work—offers dynamic ways for those in their 20s and 30s to explore life’s big questions through a Jewish framework and engage with Jewish values, ideas, and traditions on their own terms and without judgment. As a multi-denominational and non-membership spiritual home, Sixth & I creates space for people at a similar stage of life to find community with one another and to discover the value Judaism can add to their lives.