Rabbi Will Hall, who began serving Temple Beth Shalom as assistant rabbi on July 1, 2023, was officially installed in that role on Friday, April 19, 2024, during Erev Shabbat services at the temple. A celebratory oneg followed services.

In honor of his installation, the congregation collected donations of food and household items to support Mobile Loaves & Fishes and the Community First! Village, a nonprofit organization long supported by Temple Beth Shalom.

Rabbi Hall noted how thankful he was to serve in the role and how smooth the transition had been despite current world events. At his installation he remarked, “Between the challenging nature of world events, alongside an always busy Jewish calendar, you worked tirelessly to welcome me into your community and allow me to feel at home. I would say you were more than successful.”

“The installation service of Rabbi Hall was a representation of the best of Temple Beth Shalom,” reflected Rabbi Eleanor Steinman, the temple’s senior rabbi. “Community involvement, engagement, meaningful worship, and pride in our congregation and the Jewish people were experienced by everyone present. This was an appropriate reflection of our assistant rabbi and the community he is now a vital part of sustaining.”

“Rabbi Hall embodies the finest qualities of Temple Beth Shalom. He is warm and welcoming, connects deeply with congregants across the diversity of our membership, and adds new meaning to our traditions,” said Temple Beth Shalom President Larkin Tackett. “Despite his poor taste in baseball teams (he’s an Astros fan and I root for the Dodgers), I couldn’t be more delighted to have Rabbi Hall as a valued member of our clergy and community.” 

Prior to coming to Temple Beth Shalom, Rabbi Hall served as rabbi and senior Jewish educator of The Texas Hillel Foundation.

A Houston native and eighth-generation Texan, Rabbi Hall is a proud University of Texas at Austin graduate, where he majored in Jewish and Religious Studies. Ordained in 2021 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s (HUC) Cincinnati campus, Rabbi Hall’s thesis focused on Jewish identity formation and communal engagement through the lens of sociology. 

While at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Hall participated in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Yearlong Seminar for Rabbinical Students, served as the student rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Bryan-College Station and Temple Israel of Marion, Ohio, and earned a Master’s Concentration in Israel Education from the iCenter for Israel Education.

Before rabbinical school he studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and, during his time in school, participated in interfaith programming at the Chautauqua Institution and Hebrew immersion study at Middlebury College in Vermont. ■ 

Temple Beth Shalom welcomes the community to get to know Rabbi Hall by attending Shabbat services. To RSVP, call (512)735-8900.