Rabbi Matthew S. NoverAssistant Rabbi, Education Director
Rabbi Matthew S. Nover
rabbinover@bethel.net
Rabbi Nover joined Beth El in 2019, and is the Assistant Rabbi and Education Director. He is our main service leader and runs our Pre-K – 10th religious education programs. Passionate about Jewish Education, he focuses on making Judaism relevant to his students. He lives by the saying “there are seventy interpretations to every verse in the Torah,” and loves to bring unconventional ideas to the discussion. Whether that’s looking at the physics of David’s sling or looking at Zombies and Judaism, Rabbi Nover tries to find a way to make Judaism matter to his students.
Originally from Texas, Rabbi Nover was highly involved with Camp Young Judea and USY. After high school, he went on Nativ, The College Leadership Program in Israel, where he studied at the Conservative Yeshiva and volunteered. He then came to New Jersey for his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University, where he majored in Physics and Jewish Studies. He has been involved with supplementary schools as a student, as a teacher, and as an administrator for most of his life, and cares deeply about making them succeed. Before he officially decided to be a Rabbi (though he and everyone knew it would happen eventually,) Rabbi Nover served as a technology director, a science teacher, and was a Biomedical Sciences Research Intern at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Rabbi Nover graduated from the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 2019. In addition to his rabbinic ordination, he earned a Master’s Degree in Hebrew Bible and Its Interpretation, a Master’s Degree in Jewish Education (with Honors), and a Masters Certificate in Israel Education from JTS. During his rabbinical studies, he served as a chaplain intern at Penn Health Princeton Medical Center, and as a rabbinic intern at Rutgers University Hillel.
Rabbi Nover stays up to date on the latest trends in Jewish Education and Youth Engagement. He is a Sefaria Certified Educator, a Google Certified Educator, and has an additional Masters Concentration in Israel Education through the iCenter.
He participated in the Matan Institute for Education Directors (Cohort 11) which helps Jewish Educational leaders understand how to design inclusive programs for students with special needs. He also participated in a Gender Equity in Hiring (cohort 6) training, and was selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Sefaria Innovators Circle.
Additionally, he is certified in First Aid/CPR/ Epipen, and in Youth Mental Health First Aid.
He was recently recognized by the Jewish Educators Assembly for his ongoing dedication to Jewish education on the national level as well as in his own community with the Conservative Jewish Educator credential, which was introduced to recognize select educators for attaining a standard of achievement in the field of Conservative Jewish education.
Rabbi Nover is the current chair of the Jewish Educator’s Council of Princeton Mercer Bucks, the President of the Mid-Atlantic region of the Jewish Educators Assembly, and Coordinator of the Board of Rabbis of Princeton Mercer Bucks’ Intro to Judaism course.
Rabbi Nover met his wife Heather in the Sukkah of his Hillel Rabbi. Their daughter Jane, attends Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley, and loves to “be rabbi with Rabbi Daddy.”