About Rick

Richard Litvak is Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth El, a congregation of 500+ families in Aptos, California where he has served for 36 years. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College in Religious Studies, he received A Hubbard Graduate Fellowship for the graduate study of religion. He Received Rabbinic ordained from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in 1977 at the Cincinnati campus. Rabbi Litvak is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a particular interest and expertise in pastoral counseling.

His articles on rabbinic premarital counseling as well as bereavement counseling have appeared in the CCAR Journal of Reform Judaism Magazine and Reform Judaism Magazine. He introduced the Prepare/Enrich Premarital Counseling Program into the CCAR more than two decades ago and has trained the majority of the 450 CCAR rabbis who are certified to use it. He has also been on the faculty of the CCAR Chesky Institute for Judaism and P sychotherapy and is currently on the faculty of the Cheskly Institute for Religion and Health. Rabbi Litvak also served for eight years on the faculty of the URJ adult learning summer Kallah, teaching courses related to Judaism and psychology. He was also a member of the Joint Commission on Religious Living of the URJ and CCAR.