Rabbi Charlene Brooks, a Chicago native, accepted the position of rabbi of Congregation Bene Shalom in April 2022. She served as the Cantorial Soloist and Music Director of Congregation Bene Shalom for over 25 years. Through these years, she has worked and studied alongside Rabbi Douglas Goldhamer, and other notable rabbis.  Rabbi Brooks has created many original songs for High Holidays, and chants for many Kabbalistic meditations, and led the Children’s Signing Choir for ten years. 

 

Rabbi Brooks was ordained June 2022, after completing studies at the Hebrew Seminary, Rabbinical School for the Deaf and Hearing.

 

Leading services and holiday programs at CJE, the Council for the Jewish Elderly, and many Jewish community centers have been ongoing for over twenty years. In addition, Rabbi Charlene Brooks has created many fundraising performances and events for Nationwide Holocaust Memorial Museums, and Yom HaShoah services honoring her Survivor parents.

 

What began as a career as a singer, Rabbi Brooks is also a performer, writer, lyricist, and actress, performing her one-woman shows combining her love of all types of music, around the country, including her original music in Hebrew and Yiddish.