Rabbi Marc Baker Talks About Life and the Jewish High Holidays

At a special Monday morning school meeting, Rabbi Marc Baker spoke to the boys about the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rabbi Baker began by talking about his own life journey and faith and outlined the meaning of the High Holidays for Jewish culture and tradition. "Religion is a technology for preserving people’s cultural traditions," he said. "For people to stay connected to their community and to know where they come from and who they are.”

Rabbi Baker went on to explain how the High Holidays speak to all of us as human beings and can help us strive to become better each day and year. “Here is the one-two punch of character development according to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: accountability and forgiveness."

Rabbi Baker, is President and CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), and has spent most of his life in Greater Boston’s Jewish community. An organizational leader and educator, he served as Head of School at Gann Academy, Greater Boston’s pluralistic Jewish high school, for 11 years prior to joining CJP. He lived in Jerusalem for four years, studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and The Hebrew University. Marc regularly speaks, writes, and teaches about Judaism, the Jewish community, and leadership. For the past several years he served as scholar-in-residence for CJP’s Cynthia and Leon Shulman Acharai Leadership Program.