When he arrived as senior rabbi at East Cobb’s Congregation Etz Chaim in 2016, Daniel Dorsch had some very big shoes to fill.
He was called to succeed Rabbi Shalom Lewis, who started the county’s first Conservative synagogue in the early 1980s.
On Tuesday, Dorsch, a visible figure in the Cobb and metro Atlanta Jewish communities, was recognized by Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell for his decade at the helm.
“Alongside his wife, Amy, he has helped cultivate an inclusive and welcoming community grounded in meaningful Jewish experiences,” read the proclamation from Birrell at a Board of Commissioners meeting.
“Through his leadership, community outreach, and involvement in regional initiatives, Rabbi Dorsch has strengthened connections within the congregation and the broader Atlanta area, fostering spiritual growth, interfaith dialogue, and community engagement over the past decade.”
Dorsch, who came to Cobb from New Jersey, was joined by members of his synagogue to receive the honor.
“It’s very rare for a rabbi to be speechless,” quipped Dorsch, who started off Tuesday’s meeting with a lengthy invocation.
“I’m truly humbled by this honor and we look forward to serving the community for many years to come.”
Dorsch has been a president of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association and is is a member of the Community Advisory Board for the Holocaust Museum at Kennesaw State University.
In more recent years, with anti-Semitic attacks on the rise, he has been increasingly vocal about the subject.
In 2023, after Neo-Nazi protesters brandished a Swastika flag in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue on Lower Roswell road, Dorsch spoke at a special ecumenical service at East Cobb UMC, saying that “Anti-Semitism isn’t a Jewish problem. It’s an everyone problem.”
Following Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians that sparked an ongoing conflict in the Gaza region, Etz Chaim lowered the Israeli flag to half-mast and set up a table with chairs bearing the names of hostages.
Last October, Dorsch said that table was being taken down and the flag raised again following the return of the remaining living hostages.
There’s a lot of brokenness right now that’s in need of repair,” he said in a radio interview at the time. “I’m hopeful and cautiously optimistic that this will be the turning point for a brighter future.”
Birrell had introduced a resolution asking commissioners to provide “unwavering support” for Israel, but some members of the Cobb Muslim and Arabic communities protested, and the resolution was dropped.
Dorsch and his wife Amy—a teacher at The Epstein School, a Jewish day school in Sandy Springs—have two children, Zev and Haley.
On Tuesday, Dorsch said that Cobb is “a wonderful place for our family to make our home.”
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