Serge’s Silver Celebration

May 19, 2022, Liberty Warehouse, Red Hook Brooklyn

About Rabbi Lippe

Serge A. Lippe has served as the spiritual leader of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue since July 1, 1997. Rabbi Lippe was born in New York City on December 15, 1964. Raised and educated in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, he is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. His first year of college was spent at Machon Greenberg in Jerusalem at the Reform Movement Leadership Institute. In 1983 he began his studies at the University of Chicago and graduated with honors from the College in 1986 with a B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Rabbi Lippe began his rabbinic studies at the Jerusalem campus of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1986 and returned to the New York campus of the College-Institute the following year. His student pulpits included Community Temple Beth Ohr of Brooklyn and Temple Beth Israel of Steubenville, Ohio. He was granted his Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 1989 and was ordained in May 1991. His rabbinic thesis is a detailed review of Maimonides’ Laws of Almsgiving.

Rabbi Lippe served as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley, Arizona from July of 1991 until June of 1997. During his time at Temple Solel, he was part of the professional team that created Solel’s Day School, which has now become the community wide PARDES School. His service to the Greater Phoenix Jewish community was acknowledged by the Council of Jewish Federations at the 65th General Assembly where he was honored as a Rabbinical Award winner.

Rabbi Lippe has also served as a regional rabbinic adviser to the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY-SW). He and his wife Deborah first met as teenagers at the URJ Eisner Camp and are proud alumni, as are all three of their children. Rabbi Lippe has also served as a faculty member at URJ Camp SWIG and Eisner Camp.

In May 2016, Rabbi Lippe was awarded his Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by HUC-JIR in recognition of his 25 years of service in the Reform rabbinate.

During his 25-year tenure at BHS, the synagogue has grown tremendously both in membership and the expansion of its physical space as well as its impact on the community. He was instrumental in creating BHS’s own well-regarded Preschool, expanding its clergy team to include a full-time Cantor and Assistant/Associate Rabbi, establishing an annual 9th Grade Israel Trip, helping to acquire our dedicated section at Maimonides Cemetery, undertaking a complete renovation of the Synagogue and Sanctuary, and the acquisition of 127 Remsen Street for our expansion. In addition, BHS has been recognized by Eisner and Crane Lake Camps for the many campers from BHS.
Rabbi Lippe has officiated the brises, namings, b’nei mitzvah and confirmation of scores of our children and students. He has officiated numerous weddings and been by the side of our families for so many funerals and bereavements. He takes pride in the mentorship of over a dozen students from HUC-JIR’s rabbinic and cantorial programs over the last two and a half decades.

Rabbi Lippe has served as a member of the Reform Movement’s Joint Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living, as well as a leader for a CCAR Ethics Committee IGT. Rabbi Lippe has served two terms as President of the Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association. He initiated our annual Iftar with the members of Dawood Mosque on State Street, which BHS has celebrated for the last dozen years (pre-COVID). He also helped develop the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend with local churches in the neighborhood.

He is the editor of Birkon Artzi: Blessings and Meditations for Travelers to Israel, published by CCAR Press. He has also served on the editorial advisory committee for Mishkan HaNefesh for the House of Mourning (CCAR Press) and on the ‘Machzor Think Tank’ for the Reform Movement’s new High Holy Day prayerbooks – Mishkan HaNefesh – Machzor for the Days of Awe (CCAR Press). He has been a regular reader of academic theses and congregational spiritual journeys for twenty-five years.

He and his wife, Deb Speyer, are native New Yorkers and they live in Brooklyn Heights with their three children Michael, Alex and Risa.