Rabbi David Wolkenfeld treasures opportunities to serve as a resource for Jews who are seeking to connect more deeply to Torah and mitzvot in order to become better people and build stronger communities. He has served as the rabbi of Ohev Sholom Congregation since July 2023.
Rabbi Wolkenfeld is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and completed a term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. He served for several years as a vice-president of the International Rabbinic Fellowship and currently chairs its Membership Committee. His writing has been published in Tradition, The Lehrhaus, Milin Havivin, and the Huffington Post. Prior to his move to Washington, Rabbi Wolkenfeld served for ten years as the rabbi of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Rabbi Wolkenfeld began his rabbinic career at Princeton University, where, together with his wife Sara, he directed the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.
Rabbi Wolkenfeld grew up in Manhattan where he attended Stuyvesant High School. He has a B.A. in History from Harvard University and has completed graduate coursework in Medieval Jewish History at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Wolkenfeld studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut. He has semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg z’l, and Rabbi She’ar Yashuv Kohen z’l in Israel, and from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School.
In his spare time, Rabbi Wolkenfeld enjoys hiking, making tomato sauce from local ingredients, and writing whimsical poems about synagogue life. The Wolkenfelds are the proud parents of five children: Noam, Akiva, Hillel, Sophie, and Yonatan.
You can contact Rabbi Wolkenfeld at rabbi.wolkenfeld [at] OhevDC.org.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 