Alex Malanych hails from the very middle of Connecticut, where not one but two major highways intersect. Growing up in the Pentecostal tradition, Alex discovered Judaism just out of high school as a music counselor at Camp Kingswood in rural Maine. The power and joy of that first camp Shabbat would prompt a delightfully circuitous 16-year journey to rabbinical school, and now, the chance to continue serving the community (Jewish and otherwise) beyond ordination.
Before coming to rabbinical school, Alex intended to enter academia but couldn’t help working as a K-12 educator for Jewish camps, synagogues and nonprofits, including NFTY, BBYO and Emma Kaufmann Camp. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English at Southern Connecticut State University, Alex went on to earn a master’s degree in English at the University of Vermont before moving to Pittsburgh to pursue doctoral work at the University of Pittsburgh, where they realized teaching was where their passion was most alive. After earning a master’s degree in Jewish education from Gratz College, Alex worked for the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh’s Teen Department before being selected as a Wexner Gradate Fellow/Davidson Scholar and enrolling at RRC in 2021.
At RRC, Alex has served as the rabbinic intern at West Chester University Hillel and, for the past three years, as the student rabbi and education director at Congregation Am Haskalah, the Lehigh Valley’s Reconstructionist Congregation and Congregation Keneseth Israel in the Lehigh Valley. Alex has also nurtured a continued passion for Jewish summer camp with four amazing years as the Jewish education director at Camp Havaya, the Reconstructionist movement’s only overnight camp. With the end of rabbinical school, they are excited to continue the journey in higher education as the assistant director of religious and spiritual life and campus rabbi at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
This journey would not have been possible without the incredible love and support of so many people. To my family, for your patience and your belief that I could do this (and so many other things), thank you. To the communities at Am Haskalah, Keneseth Israel and my Wexner Class 33 cohort who have helped me develop so many skills with humor and kindness, thank you. To my teachers, advisors and friends at RRC who have helped me to trust both my mind and my heart in the work, thank you. To Isaac, Josh, Sara and Jacob, who have seen me from the start of this process and kept me grounded in the wisdom of summer, thank you.
“Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? The one who learns from everyone … ”
בֶּן זוֹמָא אוֹמֵר, אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם, הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם
— Pirkei Avot 4:1
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between.”
— Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
