Leadership

Rabbi Alex Matthews                          
Alex Matthews has been part of the CAA community since 2015 and has been serving as our congregational leader since 2019.  Alex was ordained as a Rabbi from Hebrew College in June 2023.  In addition to his responsibilities at CAA, Alex serves part-time as a staff chaplain at Beverly Hospital.  Alex brings a deep love of Torah, Jewish tradition and community building to our Synagogue.

After graduating from Cornell University in 2009, Alex spent a few years working and adventuring in Peru with the Peace Corps, then hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety.  Although he grew up on the edge of New York City, farming and outdoor life sparked a passion and Alex spent the last 7 years managing vegetable farms in northeast Massachusetts, while living in Newburyport since 2015.  The understanding that so much of the Torah is deeply rooted in agriculture and community helped bring Alex back into the fold of Jewish life and inspired him to become more deeply involved in the CAA community. He brings a wealth of Jewish knowledge with him to the job from his years attending The Ramaz School, a coeducational Jewish Modern Orthodox Day School in New York.  In his spare time, you can find him running, biking or helping out at his wife Mac's farm. Alex can be reached via his email.