Rabbi Neil Tow is thrilled to return to Sha'are Shalom as Rabbi where he served as student-rabbi during his senior year at Jewish Theological Seminary.  Having served most recently as Associate Rabbi at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, he brings a love of teaching, strong pastoral skills, a passion for facilitating meaningful and uplifting prayer and doing creative outreach projects to share the joyfulness of Judaism both within and beyond the walls of the synagogue.

Rabbi Tow is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts University, and he received his Master’s in Jewish Education from The William Davidson School at JTS with a thesis project on applying the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory language learning to teaching Hebrew.

In the Greater Washington region, he is an executive board member and Treasurer of the Washington Area Board of Rabbis.  He is active in the Loudoun Area Faith leaders as one of the organizers of its annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Day of Service. At Inova Loudoun hospital, he is a volunteer with the spiritual care department. Rabbi Tow is a member of the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA) Ambassadors group and JCADA Board of Directors, and he participated the Sacred Spaces “Respect & Responsibility” cohort focusing on creating safe Jewish communities. He also serves as a chaplain to the Leesburg Police Department.

Rabbi Tow is an adjunct teacher in the religion department at George Mason University, and he facilitates online classes in Hebrew & Yiddish conversation.

He was a contributor to the new Rabbinical Assembly clergy manual project.

Outside of synagogue work, Rabbi Tow loves spending time with his family, working in the garden, hiking, reading, studying languages, and is a student of the art of Sofrut, traditional Hebrew calligraphy.