Meet Our Rabbis
Rabbi Amy Perlin
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin is the Senior Rabbi of Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, Virginia, where she has served as its founding rabbi, since the congregation began in 1986.
Rabbi Perlin has an A.B. degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, Class of '78 (Summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and an M.A.H.L. (Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature) 1980 and ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in NY, 1982. She received her Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC in May of 2007. Rabbi Perlin is the first woman rabbi in America to start a congregation on her own. Temple B’nai Shalom has gone from 0 to almost 500 families in 26 years under her leadership.
Rabbi Perlin's rabbinate focuses on teaching (she is the teacher for our Bar/Bat Mitzvah program, Confirmation and Post-Confirmation classes) and counseling (with specialties in pre-marital, marital, grief, child-rearing, and illness counseling as well as mentoring and serving the needs of rabbinic colleagues). She has spent the past 29 years trying to create a caring community inside and outside of her congregation, and meaningful worship experiences that attract people of all ages to engage in prayer and study.
In addition to being extremely proud that TBS has the best retention rate post-Bar Mitzvah than any congregation in America, Rabbi Perlin is also proud of the fact that B’nai Shalom has sent more students to become rabbis than almost any other congregation in the past decade. Since, 2002, seven B’nai Shalom members have been accepted to HUC.
Rabbi Perlin is the immediate past President of MAR-CCAR. She is an ardent Zionist and spends time in Israel every year taking members of our congregation for life changing experiences and as a devoted supported of IRAC and the Israeli Reform movement.
Above all, Rabbi Perlin is a devoted wife and mother. She has been happily married to her husband Gary for almost 36 years. The Perlins are committed to social justice and philanthropy in the Washington area and worldwide. Rabbi Perlin is also the mother of two wonderful sons: Jonah who is a student at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., and Jacob, works in the entertainment field in Los Angeles and is an active member of the L.A. Jewish community.
In her spare time Rabbi Perlin is an avid reader of mysteries, enjoys cooking and entertaining, has a passion for home design and collecting vintage Art Deco, dabbles in watercolor painting, and frequently travels the world.
Rabbi Nyer
Rabbi Shoshana B. Nyer has served Temple B'nai Shalom as Associate Rabbi and Educator since her ordination in 2003. Before arriving in Northern Virginia, she studied at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where in addition to achieving her ordination, she earned a masters of arts in Hebrew Literature.
Rabbi Nyer especially enjoyed studying both Jewish Law as well as Jewish Philosophy. She was particularly honored to spend two years as an academic intern for Dr. Eugene Borowitz, one of the greatest scholars of modern Jewish thought. An active member as a youth in her Jewish community in Cleveland, Ohio, Rabbi Nyer later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland.
Rabbi Nyer enjoys many aspects of serving as both rabbi and educator. She feels especially honored to be able to share in the most sacred and meaningful moments in the lives of our congregants. She loves teaching students of all ages, and is most excited when her lessons combine her knowledge of and passion for Judaism and her interest in all things pop culture.
When she is not at work, Rabbi Nyer enjoys spending time with her husband, Stephen Langel, and their daughter, Emily. They all feel blessed to be a part of the Temple B'nai Shalom community.