Rabbi Modek received ordination in 2003 from the Academy for Jewish Religion and the Aleph S'mikhah Program. A native Israeli, he launched his career as educator with the Zionist youth movements Dror HaBonim and HaShomer HaTza'ir. He first served as young group counselor and subsequently as youth center director in the towns of Haifa and Rehovot. After earning a degree in Social Work from Haifa University, Rabbi Modek moved to the US where his passion for Jewish education and leadership were refocused. He since has served as classroom educator, Hebrew school principal, and rabbinical leader for Conservative, Reform, and Jewish Renewal Havurah communities.
Rabbi Modek draws upon an interdisciplinary palette of scholarship and creative accomplishment. As a certified instructor of Otiyot Hayyot, Living Letters, a movement art inspired by the forms and wisdom of the Hebrew letters, Rabbi Modek has taught workshops relating kinetics to Hebrew instruction and worship for students and educators at retreats, synagogues, and Hebrew schools in the USA, England and Israel.
During the past decades, Rabbi Modek's educational work has concentrated upon teaching, directing and developing programs in a variety of settings. He has served in the Solomon Schechter Day School system, directed and taught classes in a number of synagogue Hebrew schools, and led creative youth programs at informal educational venues, such as the Aleph Kallah and the National Havurah Committee Summer Institutes. Rabbi Modek's current innovative approach was conceived, tested, and refined during this period.
Invaluable time spent in mentorship with master teachers, such as Rabbi Marcia Prager, Dr. Livia Strauss, Rabbi Michele Sullum, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi have influenced and shaped Rabbi Modek's accessible approach to Jewish life and education. Rabbi Modek currently lives in Nyack, New York. His approach offers students and their families an opportunity to engage in the Jewish quest with a high degree of spiritual connectedness, contemporary relevance, and personal meaning.
Rabbi Modek draws upon an interdisciplinary palette of scholarship and creative accomplishment. As a certified instructor of Otiyot Hayyot, Living Letters, a movement art inspired by the forms and wisdom of the Hebrew letters, Rabbi Modek has taught workshops relating kinetics to Hebrew instruction and worship for students and educators at retreats, synagogues, and Hebrew schools in the USA, England and Israel.
During the past decades, Rabbi Modek's educational work has concentrated upon teaching, directing and developing programs in a variety of settings. He has served in the Solomon Schechter Day School system, directed and taught classes in a number of synagogue Hebrew schools, and led creative youth programs at informal educational venues, such as the Aleph Kallah and the National Havurah Committee Summer Institutes. Rabbi Modek's current innovative approach was conceived, tested, and refined during this period.
Invaluable time spent in mentorship with master teachers, such as Rabbi Marcia Prager, Dr. Livia Strauss, Rabbi Michele Sullum, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi have influenced and shaped Rabbi Modek's accessible approach to Jewish life and education. Rabbi Modek currently lives in Nyack, New York. His approach offers students and their families an opportunity to engage in the Jewish quest with a high degree of spiritual connectedness, contemporary relevance, and personal meaning.