Rabbi Nicole Auerbach joined Central Synagogue full-time in 2016 as the Reform movement’s first-ever Rabbi for Small Groups. She now serves as Central’s Director of Congregational Engagement, directing a wide range of adult programming geared toward connecting members more deeply with one another, with Central, and with Jewish tradition. She also oversees Central’s CORE Groups initiative, which creates and supports lay-led groups of congregants that come together on a regular basis to discuss Jewish ideas, explore shared passions, and build relationships. Rabbi Auerbach also leads Central’s “Mishkan” Shabbat morning service, an intimate, participatory service that allows our members to dive deep into both prayer and Torah. Rabbi Auerbach is the coauthor along with Dr. Ron Wolfson and Rabbi Lydia Medwin of “The Relational Judaism Handbook,” which offers a step-by-step guide to building deeper relationships within Jewish communities and institutions.  

Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, Rabbi Auerbach serves as a member of the CCAR Central Conference of American Rabbis delegation to the North American Board of the Union for Reform Judaism. She is a member of the latest clergy cohort of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and received her training as a spiritual director through HUC-JIR's Bekhol Levavkha program. As a rabbinical student, Rabbi Auerbach was a Rabbis Without Borders Rabbinical Student Fellow and a Daniel and Bonnie Tisch Rabbinical Fellow. She traveled with the American Jewish World Service to El Salvador as part of its Rabbinical Student Delegation, and served as a founding member of AJWS’s New York Action Committee. Prior to rabbinical school, Rabbi Auerbach worked as an attorney for 10 years, first as a federal public defender, and then as a media lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues.   

She lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and two daughters, Catherine and Vivian, who are active members of Central’s LCLJ community.