Email
Phone: (216) 831-3233 x126
Rabbi Roger C. Klein received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago with a dissertation on Plato. He was ordained by The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where he also received a Master of Hebrew Letters degree. He studied for a year at The University of Tubingen in Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and for a year at The Pardes Institute in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Klein has served congregations in Indiana and Columbus, Ohio and has taught at The University of Kentucky, Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and at The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. He has lectured widely at synagogues, churches and universities around the country on Bible, Jewish Thought, Jewish Philosophy and Jewish History, Christian-Jewish Relations, Jewish Humor, and Music. He also presents pre-concert talks for The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Cleveland Chamber Music Society.
Dedicated to lifelong learning, Rabbi Klein plays a pivotal role in The Temple’s adult learning programs and conducts a well-attended Torah Study class every Shabbat morning. In addition, he cultivates relationships with other religious and educational institutions in Cleveland and around the country. He is intensely involved in the congregation’s life-cycle events, works closely with individuals and families, and oversees The Temple Brotherhood, The Temple Seniors, Adult Learning, and The Temple’s Caring Congregation Initiative.
Rabbi Klein joined The Temple-Tifereth Israel as a full-time rabbi in July 1999 after serving part-time for six years while teaching at The Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies.
Rabbi Klein grew up in Shaker Heights and graduated from Shaker Heights High School. He played varsity baseball in high school and in college and is a life-long, avid tennis player. He has three grown children and two grandchildren.
Feel free to watch archived video of Torah Study sessions led mostly by Rabbi Klein through the viewing portal below!
Video and Writing
From The Rabbi’s Study: Our Words and Our Deeds: Who We Are
Perhaps the most well-known extended passage in The Bible is the compressed story of our people’s origins and that we read together at the Passover Seder. A wandering Aramean was my father. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians […]
From the Rabbi’s Study: First Culture, Then Politics
It is a truism that today’s politics are riven with over-heated partisanship and rivalrous discourse in which proponents of different policy ideas go to their respective corners and, with relish, prepare for the fight that follows. Yet, behind politics is culture and the heart of culture is values. Now, the regnant cultural values that stand […]
From the Rabbi’s Study: The Sanctification of G-d’s Name
The Sanctification of G-d’s Name – An Idea with a Remarkable Reach The reader of this week’s Torah portion (Emor; Leviticus 21-24) cannot help but be struck by the following imperative: “You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified among the Israelite people” (22:32). Now, this twin notion of “sanctify” and […]
Torah Study Poetry and Parsha Podcasts (Audio Only)
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