RABBI JONATHAN V. PLAUT, D.H.L., D.D.

Since the first of October 2000, Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut has served on a part time basis as the spiritual leader of the congregation.  Prior to this, he served Congregation Beth El on a part-time basis from 1999 to 2004, and is now Rabbi Emeritus. He served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, San Jose, California from 1985 to 1993 and Congregation Beth El in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from 1970 to 1984 where he spearheaded the synagogue’s growth of more than a hundred percent.  In addition, he served on a part-time basis as Visiting Rabbinic Scholar at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, from 1994 to 1996.

A graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1964, he was ordained in 1970 from the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio. Rabbi Plaut earned a Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree in 1977 and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1995 from the Hebrew Union College.

He teaches part time as Adjunct Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy and for eight years, Dr. Plaut was Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University, San Jose, California. In Windsor, he taught for twelve years at Assumption College School. For more than a decade, he hosted a weekly religious news program on CBET-TV television and CKWW radio in Windsor.

His book The Jews of Windsor 1790-1990: A Historical Chronicle was published in the Spring 2007.  In 1982, he edited Through the Sound of Many Voices: Writings Contributed on the Occasion of the 70th Birthday of W. Gunther Plaut and from 1977 to 1984 was the Editor of the  Journal of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society.  For nearly nine years, he wrote a monthly article for the San Jose Jewish Community News.

Rabbi Plaut has held many civic and religious posts and was the youngest person to receive Windsor Jewry's highest communal honor in 1985, becoming the Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner honoree. Active in a variety of communal activities, Rabbi Plaut headed the Jewish National Fund, United Jewish Appeal of Windsor, State of Israel Bonds, Credit Counseling Service of Metropolitan Windsor, Counsel of Agency Executives and Rabbis in San Jose, and was the Chaplain for both the San Jose Fire and Police Departments.

Rabbi Plaut and his wife, Carol, have two married children, Daniel (Amy) and Deborah (David) and two grandsons, Steven and Jeffrey.  He is the son of Rabbi Dr. W. Gunther Plaut, an internationally renowned Jewish scholar living in Toronto, Canada.