"Rav" Nadav Caine

Services at Ner Tamid are conducted by our Spiritual Leader, Nadav Caine.

Rav Nadav comes to the rabbinate from scholarship in the Philosophy of Religion and from engagement in Jewish Education.  Originally from Philadelphia, the son of Rabbi Ivan Caine (a Conservative rabbi and Chair of Bible Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College), Nadav studied religion and philosophy at Princeton University (graduating with Honors in 1988) and then Harvard University (for his Masters), taking time off for extensive travel in Indonesia and, later, kibbutz in Israel.  He then spent nearly ten years in the Bay Area, working toward his doctorate at Stanford University under Dr. Arnold Eisen, who is now chancellor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.  

While at Stanford University, Nadav won the Jewish Community Federation’s first annual Diller Prize for best Jewish Studies teacher in the Bay Area, as well as the International Academy for Jewish Philosophy’s Essay Prize for his scholarly essay on the thought of Moses Mendelssohn.  From 2000 until 2002, Nadav was Director of the Peninsula Havurah High in Palo Alto, a community Hebrew High program, which grew from 120 students to 190 students under his tenure.  He served on numerous committees and boards of Jewish institutions while also teaching Jewish Studies in the California State university system.  

In 2005, Nadav moved from Academia to the rabbinate, enrolling at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, California, where he is working toward ordination as a rabbi.  Nadav also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the American Jewish University. 

Rav Nadav is passionate about people and has worked closely with B’nai Mitzva students as well as seniors at Ner Tamid throughout his first year with the synagogue.  He is also enthusiastically teaching congregants about the sacred and mystical Jewish texts, especially Kabbalah (he has studied with leading scholars of Kabbalah).  At Ner Taimd, Nadav offers ongoing monthly study sessions at Ner Tamid entitled, “Kabbalah: A Theology for Adults.”   Nadav is also expanding his teaching to the congregation in subjects ranging from traditional Jewish text study to comparative religions, existentialism and Religion & Science.  Rav Nadav has brought to Ner Tamid a genuine concern for the spiritual lives of all congregants.

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