Congregation Sha'are Shalom Gates of Peace
Our Rabbi
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Rabbi Neil Tow
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Rabbi Neil Tow is thrilled to return to Sha'are Shalom as Rabbi where he served as student-rabbi during his senior year at Jewish Theological Seminary. Having served most recently as Associate Rabbi at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, he brings a love of teaching, strong pastoral skills, a passion for facilitating meaningful and uplifting prayer and doing creative outreach projects to share the joyfulness of Judaism both within and beyond the walls of the synagogue.
Rabbi Tow is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts University, and he received his Master’s in Jewish Education from The William Davidson School at JTS with a thesis project on applying the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory language learning to teaching Hebrew.
In the Greater Washington region, he is an executive board member of the Washington Area Board of Rabbis and is liaison to the Jewish Community Relations Council where he serves as co-chair of the Intergroup Relations Committee. He is active in the Loudoun Area Faith leaders as one of the organizers of its annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Day of Service. At Inova Loudoun hospital, he is a volunteer with the spiritual care department. Rabbi Tow is a member of the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA) Ambassadors group, and is part of the Sacred Spaces “Respect & Responsibility” cohort focusing on creating safe Jewish communities. He also serves as a chaplain to the Leesburg Police Department.
Rabbi Tow is an adjunct teacher in the religion department at George Mason University, and he teaches a bi-weekly Hebrew class through the Duolingo langue-learning program.
He is a contributor to the new Rabbinical Assembly clergy manual project.
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Outside of synagogue work, Rabbi Tow loves spending time with his family, working in the garden, hiking, reading, studying languages, and is a student of the art of Sofrut, traditional Hebrew calligraphy.
Click here to access Rabbi Tow's weekly messages.
Click here to access Rabbi Tow's videos on how we can recognize the holiness of various moments in our lives. Be on the lookout for more snippets on how blessings can help enrich these moments.
To read selected past writings, please visit his blog Rabbi Tow’s Window: