Rabbi Marina Yergin (she/her) began her rabbinic career at Temple Beth-El on July 1, 2015. Rabbi Yergin has a deep enthusiasm, passion, and excitement about education for all ages, but has a specific soft spot for working with teens and young adults. At the same time, she is committed to expanding the Beth-El community with a welcoming attitude and a listening ear.
Rabbi Yergin grew up in Hoffman Estates, Illinois as an active youth at Beth Tikvah Congregation, where it was suggested she think about becoming Rabbi at her Bat Mitzvah rehearsal! While being in Illinois, she was involved in her Temple Youth Group and was on the NFTY-Chicago Area Region’s regional board as Membership Vice President and the President. While Hoffman Estates was not a very Jewish area, Rabbi Yergin found a community at both the synagogue and at URJ’s Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Rabbi Yergin attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where she received a BA in Hebrew, Sociology, and Jewish Studies, with a minor in Leadership. While there, she was involved at Hillel, in her Jewish sorority, in the Admissions department for the University, and was a TA for Modern Hebrew courses.
Rabbi Yergin was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in May 2015. While living in Israel, she participated in the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism’s Riding4Reform bike trip from Modi’in to Masada as well as the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s Former Soviet Union Pesach Project aiding communities in their Passover celebrations. Rabbi Yergin served as the Student Rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Sholom in Bluefield, West Virginia for two years as her first student pulpit. She then moved to becoming the Rabbinic Fellow and Intern at Hillel at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for two years. In the summers during her years as a rabbinic student, she staffed a NFTY in Israel trip and worked at URJ’s Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi expanding her work with high school students and getting to know Reform teens from all over the country. Rabbi Yergin has also completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education focusing on her work at Hillel at Miami University and working as a chaplain at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati.
Rabbi Yergin, her husband, Dave, and their sons, Trevor and Joshua love being part of the Temple Beth-El and the San Antonio community.