Torah, Avodah, Gemilut Hasdim

Rabbi Marko served as Senior Rabbi at Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego for 2 years, and Congregation Beth Israel of Greenville, South Carolina for six.  He hails from Brooklyn, New York and survived 20 years in Los Angeles. His career adventures have included acting professionally at the Hippodrome State Theatre in Florida, various theaters in New York City, and The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, development and fundraising, teaching students as a much-demanded substitute teacher in LA’s school district, and the proprietor of a fine carpentry and custom furniture shop in Los Angeles.

This is all precedent to realizing his calling: Torah, Jewish community, tradition balanced with spiritual modernism, social justice and Israel. Rabbi Matt has also been combining his love of Torah and creativity in teaching nagarut/woodshop at Jewish summer camps and with his synagogue youth for many years, as well as custom crafting sacred synagogue furniture in his spare time.

Rabbi Matt holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Performance from the University of Florida at Gainesville with a minor in Hebrew. He earned his Master of Arts in Rabbinic Literature and rabbinic ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.

A fierce defender and advocate for Israel, he has lived on kibbutz, is an AIPAC Leffell Rabbinic Leadership fellow, and will spend any Shabbat minute answering questions about why Jews need to know and love Israel.

Rabbi Matt’s other interests include scuba diving (certified instructor), sky diving, bicycling, motorcycling, playing music, traveling the world, and being a creative kosher chef of international cuisine (what he dubs “kosher treiff”).