Born in Israel, Rabbi Daniel Bar-Nahum’s family moved to Buffalo Grove, IL, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, when he was a young child. The youngest of three, Rabbi Bar-Nahum’s family has both Ashkenazi and Sephardi backgrounds. He is the grandson of Holocaust survivors, and the son and grandson of Jews expatriated from Egypt. He became Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Beth Judea in Long Grove, IL. While in high school, Rabbi Bar-Nahum began teaching Hebrew at a local Reform Temple, Congregation Hakafa in Glencoe, IL, where he planned his first Purim carnival. He was also the captain of his High School’s fencing team and President of the French and Art Clubs.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France, and earning a BA in French and European Studies, cum laude, in 2002. He worked in the Heard Library, helping to digitize special collections related to French theatre in the mid 20-th century. Rabbi Bar-Nahum was a student leader at Vanderbilt Hillel, leading services and holiday gatherings, and planning interfaith programming, and peace vigils. He was a member of other Jewish organizations on campus, including the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Throughout his time in Nashville, Rabbi Bar-Nahum continued to teach religious school at The Temple: Congregation Ohabai Sholom.
After graduating college, Rabbi Bar-Nahum was selected to be in the first cohort of the DeLeT Fellowship in day school education at Brandeis University, where he began his graduate studies and earned his teaching certification. Upon completion of the DeLeT Fellowship, Rabbi Bar-Nahum moved to Atlanta, GA, accepting a position at the Davis Academy, Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School, teaching 7th– and 8th-grade Social Studies and Judaic Studies. While in Atlanta, he completed his graduate studies, earning a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies of Jewish Education via distance learning at Siegal College in Cleveland, OH focusing on Jewish Identity formation in middle school students.
It was in the role of teacher in Atlanta that Rabbi Bar-Nahum began to consider attending the seminary. As he was gaining skills leading services, teaching, and chaperoning trips to Israel, his boss noted that he was doing much of the work of a rabbi, already. Thanks to some prodding from this mentor, Rabbi Bar-Nahum began to understand the role of rabbi as teacher for a community and began the process to determine if the rabbinate was the right path for him. After realizing that becoming a rabbi would be the culmination of so much of his experiences, and after brushing up on his Hebrew grammar, Rabbi Bar-Nahum applied to and was accepted to the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and began his studies in Jerusalem in 2007.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum was Ordained in 2012 by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, completing a Rabbinic Thesis on Talmudic notions of action, intention and voice in determining an object’s status. While at HUC-JIR he earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 2011. He served as an intern for the incoming first year students in Israel and was selected as a student fellow with Rabbis without Borders. He earned many academic awards including for homiletics and preaching, for Hebrew, and for creative worship. He served as the chef of the HUC Soup Kitchen for two years, helping to feed hundreds of people a hot meal every Monday evening. Rabbi Bar-Nahum served as a student rabbi at pulpits in Kinston, NC and Wayland, MA. For three years, Rabbi Bar-Nahum served as Rabbinic Intern at Temple Emeth in Teaneck, NJ.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum served as Assistant Rabbi and Educational Director at Temple Emanu-El of East Meadow between 2012 and 2013. He had the honor to serve as the last Rabbi and Educational Director there between 2013 and 2018. In 2018, Rabbi Bar-Nahum deconsecrated Temple Emanu-El and moved with the community to Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh, after a two-year communal process.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum assumed the pulpit of Temple B’nai Torah – A Reform Congregation in July of 2018. At TBT, Rabbi Bar-Nahum, working alongside a team of professionals and lay volunteers, has created a community that serves every part of the life of a Jew, putting special emphasis on early-childhood and family engagement and teen programming. Rabbi Bar-Nahum teaches the 10th-grade Confirmation Class and annually chaperones the High School trip to Washington, DC and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, teaching students the value of citizen activism and political engagement. He has taught Lifelong Learning classes on topics such as Zionism, Midrash, Tzedakah, and Holiness. He has implemented a first-of-its kind program, modernizing scriptural reading choices for Bet Mitzvah students. He has led congregational tours of Israel and Europe. In the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, Rabbi Bar-Nahum facilitated the raising of many thousands of dollars in donations, and took them with him on a solidarity mission in December, 2023.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum is passionate about Social Action/Social Justice and works closely with members of his congregation to limit the use of disposable plastics and to become a more environmentally friendly facility. Rabbi Bar-Nahum worked to convert an unused playground into a giving garden, run by dedicated volunteers, which provides nearly 2000 lbs. of fresh produce each year to neighbors in need, and serves as a communal gathering place and educational facility. Rabbi Bar-Nahum has spent time at the Mexico/Texas border feeding migrants with Team Brownsville and World Central Kitchen, and he participated in America’s Journey for Justice, a multi-state march for Racial Justice, for which he, among many dozens of rabbis, was awarded the Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award by the Union for Reform Judaism.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum serves as Chair of the Worship and Practice Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, after having served as a member for two years. In that capacity, he organizes and leads continuing educational opportunities for his colleagues and helps to set worship policy for the Reform Rabbinate.
Rabbi Bar-Nahum is the proud uncle to seven, including one serving in the IDF. He enjoys going to new places, both with his family and as a solo traveler, and learning about Jewish communities around the world. He loves to study Jewish texts from all eras, both familiar and new. He is also an avid cook, gardener, and sitter by the firepit. An amateur artist, he has spent time learning to blow glass and throw pottery.
Email Rabbi Bar-Nahum at: rabbibarnahum@tbtwantagh.org