Rabbi Adam Bellows
Rabbi Adam Bellows has been spiritual leader of Temple Israel since 2022, coming here from Chesterfield, Mo., near St. Louis, where he was associate rabbi at United Hebrew Congregation.
He was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2018. 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. He earned a B.A. in applied behavioral sciences from National Louis University in Skokie, Ill.
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.
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 include 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.
Since coming to Temple Israel, Rabbi Bellows convened the Jewish Leadership Council of Greater Lafayette and joined the Indiana Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Bellows is the 45th spiritual leader for Temple Israel.
He and his wife, Melissa Bellows, have three children. Melissa Bellows is the director of Lafayette Jewish Community Religious School.