SOMERS, N.Y. - The Hebrew Congregation of Somers has a new spiritual leader.
Rabbi Jonathan Malamy, who began his tenure this summer, brings a deep mix of congregational, chaplaincy, and counseling experience to the community.
When he first walked into the sanctuary, he felt something immediately familiar.
“It felt like going back to camp,” Malamy recalls. “A warm retreat. There was this grassroots vibe in the building, and the people I met were so enthusiastic and welcoming about their experiences here. It just felt right.”
That sense of belonging is something Rabbi Malamy knows well. Raised in Greenwich Village, he found his first Jewish community in a synagogue youth group.
“That really energized my Jewish life,” he says. “At my Bar Mitzvah, a woman came up to me and said, ‘You spoke so wonderfully, you should be a rabbi.’ I thought, not in a million years. But years later, it turns out she was right.”
His journey since then has been anything but ordinary. After studying music at Grinnell College in Iowa—an intentional move away from the intensity of New York City—he enrolled at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College outside Philadelphia and was ordained in 2000. His first post was as the inaugural full-time rabbi of Congregation B’nai Vail in Colorado, serving the tight-knit mountain community of Eagle County.
But Malamy’s curiosity and compassion soon led him in new directions. He pursued a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at Northwestern University and worked as a hospice chaplain in Chicago before returning to New York. For 16 years, he served at The New Jewish Home, a landmark long-term care facility on the Upper West Side, where he expanded spiritual care, oversaw family visits and volunteer programs during the pandemic, and even launched a podcast featuring residents’ stories.
“That experience shaped me,” he explains. “I was working with Jews and non-Jews, with people from every kind of background, often in very vulnerable moments of life. It taught me how important it is to create spaces where questions are welcome, where people feel safe to speak, or just to be.”
That philosophy is something he brings to Somers.
“The Hebrew Congregation has a reputation for being a welcoming community, because it serves Jews from many different backgrounds,” he continues. “It’s not about one narrow niche—it’s about creating a place where people with all kinds of Jewish journeys and identities can feel at home.”
For Rabbi Malamy, teaching is central to that mission.
“Jewish texts were written thousands of years ago in languages most of us don’t speak,” he says. “Even when translated, they can feel as distant as Shakespeare to a first time reader. My job is to make them accessible and meaningful for today. People shouldn’t feel embarrassed by their questions—questions are the doorway to connection.”
Now living in White Plains with his wife, Cantor Jill Abramson, their son Eli, and their goldendoodle Winnie, Rabbi Malamy says he’s excited to put down roots in northern Westchester.
“It doesn’t always happen that a congregation looking for a rabbi is right in your own backyard,” he concludes. “I feel really lucky that the timing worked out. I’m looking forward to growing together with this community.”
And his invitation to neighbors is simple: “Please come in and say hi. The doors are open.”
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