Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Steven Glazer ("Rabbi Steve") was the spiritual leader at Congregation Beth Emeth for 18 years and a pulpit rabbi for 43 years before retiring in June 2013. At Beth Emeth, he did much more than simply fulfill his role as a rabbi, by leading services, teaching classes, and officiating at lifecycle events. He was, and remains, a dear friend to the entire community.
Rabbi Steve is not sitting quietly in retirement. He has established Glazer Consulting, which serves as a resource to individuals, caregivers, and healthcare professionals dealing with issues related to aging, illness, dementia and end-of-life. He currently serves on the CNS (Central Neuroscience) IRB (Institutional Review Board for Human Use) at NIH (National Institutes of Health), the bioethics faculty of USUHS (The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) School of Medicine, the Ethics Committee of Inova Fairfax Hospital, and The Maryland State Advisory Council for Quality Care at the End of Life. Rabbi Steve was invited to join the WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) IRB, as well as a new Pilot IRB at NIH.
Most recently, Rabbi Steve served as Interim Rabbi at Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, MD.
To mark his retirement, Beth Emeth's Rabbi Steve and Andrea Glazer Eldercare Assistance Fund was established to help senior members and parents of Beth Emeth members with expenses. Donate here – thank you..
Meet Rabbi Steve Glazer
Rabbi Steven M. Glazer ("Rabbi Steve" to all who know him) received his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 1970. His first pulpit was at Congregation Beth Israel, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. From 1977-1993, he served as Rabbi at Temple Beth-El, Birmingham, Alabama; and, from 1993-95 he was Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanuel of North Jersey. He came to Congregation Beth Emeth in 1995.
In more than 40 years in the rabbinate, Rabbi Steve developed a number of creative programs that have enhanced synagogue attendance and participation, helped raise $2 million for a capital campaign, and involved many teens in summer camping at Camp Ramah in New England.
Among Rabbi Steve's academic interests are Jewish Ethics, which he continues to teach at George Washington University. He has been a doctoral fellow at Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, focusing on issues around death and dying; a fellow at The Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York; a fellow in the Post Graduate Seminar in Family Emotional Process, Washington, DC. He also served as a member of the IRB (Institutional Review Board for Human Use) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for twelve years.
A gifted teacher, Rabbi Steve has also taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, George Mason and Baltimore Hebrew Universities, and the Smithsonian Institution's Resident Associates Program. He has also served as Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School and the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and served on the Board of Overseers of the Seminary's Rabbinical School.
Rabbi Glazer received a B.S. in Psychology from Columbia University (1965), a B.H.L. (Bachelor of Hebrew Literature) in Talmud, a M.H.L. (Master of Hebrew Literature) from the Jewish Theological Seminary (1966, 1968), and a D.H.L. (Doctor of Hebrew Letters) from Hebrew Union College (1993). In 1996, he was awarded an honorary D. D. (Doctor of Divinity) degree from the Seminary for his many years of dedicated service to the Jewish community.