Rabbi Mark Goldman Pledges Long-Term Leadership and Unity as New Rabbi at Coral Springs’ Temple Beth Orr

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Rabbi Mark Goldman {Temple Beth Orr}

After 30 years at Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation, Rabbi Mark Goldman has taken the pulpit at Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs with a pledge to provide trusted leadership and build the congregation as a center of Jewish life in northwest Broward.

Goldman officially began his new role June 1 at Temple Beth Orr, the north campus of Broward Central Synagogue. He had already spent about a year working with the congregation while it was led by an interim rabbi, giving him time to build relationships before formally taking charge.

The move followed the June 2025 merger of Temple Beth Orr and Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El into Broward Central Synagogue, which operates campuses in Coral Springs and Plantation.

“I gained rabbinical ordination about four years ago. And this was just a great opportunity for me to stay within Broward Central Synagogue, to stay within the family of people that I’ve been with for so many years, but then also to be able to lead a congregation of my own,” Goldman said. “It all fell into place pretty perfectly.”

Goldman comes to Temple Beth Orr with Jewish communal leadership experience spanning more than three decades. Born and raised in London, he grew up in a modern Orthodox community and knew from childhood that he wanted to become a cantor.

His connection to Jewish music goes back generations.

”I grew up in the modern Orthodox community in London, and my grandfather was a cantor in Poland,” Goldman said. “He came over to the United Kingdom as a cantor, and that’s on my father’s side. On my mother’s side, I come from a long line of cantors. I always wanted to be a cantor from a very, very young age. I used to sing in the synagogue with the cantor that I grew up with. I went to the London School of Jewish Studies to study to be a cantor. I went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and I gained a master’s in music. So music and being a cantor have always been in my blood.”

Goldman earned an honors degree in Judaic studies from the London School of Jewish Studies and a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. He later received rabbinical ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York.

At Temple Beth Orr, Goldman will continue performing some cantorial duties while bringing in soloists, song leaders, and musical groups for services. He said the arrangement will expose congregants to a wider range of voices and Jewish musical experiences.

For the High Holy Days, Goldman plans to focus on his rabbinical responsibilities while cantorial soloist Jessy Wald handles most musical portions of services.

“She is really one of the leading voices in South Florida, if not the leading voice,” Goldman said

Temple Beth Orr has around 250 families numbering over 500 individual members. Its programs include an early childhood center, religious education for children and teenagers, adult learning, and community and social events.

Goldman said he visits the early childhood program daily and teaches several classes each week.

The congregation has faced membership and leadership challenges in recent years, and Goldman said one of his first responsibilities is to give members confidence that their new rabbi intends to stay.

“I have a long-term commitment to the congregation,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He added: “I wish to inspire the congregation and help them grow as a community and, as individuals, develop a relationship with God. What I bring to the congregation is consistency and a love of the Jewish community. This congregation is my priority, and I will do everything that I can to ensure that this congregation is a success.”

Friday night Shabbat services at Temple Beth Orr begin at 6:30 p.m. and are followed by a complimentary Shabbat dinner open to the community.

Goldman delivers a sermon each week and said he wants congregants to leave having gained something emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually.

“I think it’s important for people to hear something, and to learn something, and to go away both spiritually enhanced and like they’ve learned something as well,” Goldman said. “I think it’s a combination, both mind and heart.”

Goldman said he bases his sermons on Jewish texts, particularly the weekly Torah portion, while connecting their teachings to contemporary concerns.

“I want them to feel contemporary, and I want people to be able to appreciate them from the perspective of their lives today,” he said.

The challenges confronting Jewish communities since the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, are among the present-day issues Goldman expects Temple Beth Orr to address.

He said the worldwide reaction that followed the attack exposed many Jews to levels of antisemitism and anti-Zionist bigotry they had not previously encountered.

“People talk about October 7, but it’s really October 8 where the Jewish story starts for the rest of the world, the reaction to October 7, and how it’s impacted Israel and the community outside of Israel as well,” Goldman said.

“In many ways, we are in a time period that the Jewish community has not seen for many, many decades, where antisemitism is at levels unimaginable just a decade ago, where antizionism has become normalized, and where Jewish people who were barely on the periphery of the Jewish community are standing up and realizing that people that they thought once really accepted them don’t really accept them,” he said.

Goldman believes a synagogue can provide a place for Jews to wrestle with those realizations while finding support from people confronting many of the same questions.

“I think that a congregation, a community, a temple, is the place that many people can find some answers and some comfort from what is happening in the world today.”

Goldman also rejects efforts by anti-Zionists to pressure Jews into separating their Jewish identities from Israel.

“There is no such thing as separating Israel from the Jewish people,” Goldman said. “Israel has always been, from the times of the Bible up until modern times, an integral part of the Jewish people. Israel is the spiritual homeland of the Jewish people, and I believe that we should always stand with Israel.”

He said supporting Israel does not require agreement with every decision made by an Israeli prime minister or government. Rather, it requires recognizing the dangers Israelis face and standing publicly with them, he said.

“We don’t live as the Jewish people or people in Israel live,” he continued. “We don’t live with the constant potential of war. We don’t live with countries surrounding Israel that hate Israel, that pray for its destruction. We are so fortunate in the lives in which most of us live compared to those of our brethren in Israel. The least we can do is to stand with our people in Israel.”

Rabbi Mark Goldman.

Goldman said he wants that sense of Jewish unity reflected inside Temple Beth Orr. The Reform congregation welcomes singles, couples, interfaith households, LGBTQ+ families, and people interested in learning more about Judaism.

“I believe in an absolutely inclusive community,” Goldman said. “We have many families in our congregation who are interfaith families who decided to bring up their children Jewish, to make a Jewish home, and all of those families are included in our congregation in the same way that every family is included.”

“I’m welcoming to those who are interested in Judaism or those who are not Jewish but want to stand with the Jewish community,” he added.

Goldman said differences between denominations should not stand in the way of Jewish solidarity, particularly during a period of heightened threats against the Jewish community.

“From my perspective, we need to be unified at this point,” he said. “I’m very much in favor of the unity within the different denominations of Judaism. I think at this time, more than any other time, we should be thinking of ourselves as one Jewish community, not Conservative, Reform, Orthodox, one Jewish community. I think there is a need to do that, and beyond anything else, that should be the goal.”

Temple Beth Orr is located at 2151 Riverside Drive in Coral Springs.

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Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.