Adam Bellows

Rabbi
Rabbi Adam Bellows is the new spiritual leader of Temple Israel, effective July 1, 2022.

Rabbi Bellows comes to West Lafayette from Chesterfield, Mo., near St. Louis, where he was an associate rabbi at United Hebrew Congregation.

He was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2018. While at HUC he was a rabbinic intern at Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati, and student rabbi at Hillel at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Temple Beth El in Flint, Mich., and Temple Beth Sholom in Marquette, Mich. He was a TJF rabbinic fellow at Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, and rabbinical assistant at Congregation Tzur Hadassah in Tzur Hadassah, Israel.

His experience includes Jewish educator/Israeli culture specialist supervisor and head song leader at Camp Wise in Cleveland, Ohio; early childhood music specialist/song leader at Jewish Community Centers of Chicago, Ill., director of youth programming and teacher at Am Shalom in Glencoe, Ill.; and youth group advisor at B’nai Brith Youth Organization in Skokie, Ill.

Rabbi Bellows received the Simon Lazarus Memorial Prize from HUC for the highest academic standing in his graduating class, and the Rabbi Jason Heubsch Prize for Excellence in Community Service.

He produced and published “Shabba, Shabba,” an album of original Jewish music used at JCCs and congregations.

Highlights of his experience includes introducing a monthly mostly musical Kabbalat Shabbat; adopting a monthly in-person Shabbat meditation into a weekly live-streamed Erev Shabbat meditation; and teaching both adults and children.

Rabbi Bellows earned a B.A. in applied behavioral sciences from National Louis University in Skokie, Ill.

He and his wife, Melissa Bellows, have three children. Melissa Bellows is the director of Lafayette Jewish Community Religious School.

Rabbi Bellows is the 45th spiritual leader for Temple Israel, a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism. Temple Israel was founded in 1849.