Pictured left to right are Monmouth Reform Temple’s new Rabbi Marc Kline (center) with his wife Lori Bernard and the MRT President Jay Wiesenfeld of Lincroft. 

Press release from Monmouth Reform Temple

After a year-long search, the Monmouth Reform Temple selected Rabbi Marc Kline to lead the Tinton Falls congregation. Rabbi Kline, who most recently served as the Rabbi at Temple Adath Israel in Lexington, Kentucky, began his tenure at MRT on July 1. Rabbi Bob Ourach served as MRT’s interim spiritual leader for over a year during this search.

A native of Las Vegas, NV, the graduate of the University of Arkansas law school became re-immersed in his faith at a Reform Temple while working at a Little Rock law firm. He began to take on a more involved role in the congregation and was encouraged to become, what he terms, “a second career rabbi.”

Rabbi Kline graduated from the Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994 with a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters, and was ordained as a Rabbi the following year. His first major service in a Jewish Congregation brought him to South Carolina, where he forged a close alliance with interfaith clergy and even co-led the 2000 march on the South Carolina Capital to remove the controversial Confederate flag.

The event was described as the largest march on a Southern capital (with over 40,000 people) since the Civil Rights era. He states of that experience, “I remain deeply indebted to the ministers who became my dear friends and teachers. They taught me what it meant to serve a congregation and a community in a meaningful and relevant way.”

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