RABBIS AND CANTOR | RABBI OREN HAYON

Rabbi Oren J. Hayon

Rabbi Oren J. Hayon, who has an extensive background in Jewish education and multimedia, a warm and dynamic presence, and a commitment to fostering and creating Jewish community, decided to be a rabbi because he wants to do something important. “I wanted to bring out lasting change in people,” he says.

Initially, he thought he would effect that change in the entertainment industry. After earning his BA in English from Rice University he worked briefly at a Houston management consulting firm before going to Hollywood to make movies. He reviewed scripts and novels for several studios and wrote and directed independent film projects including a short film called “Ruined.” Ultimately, he realized he needed to make a more significant professional change. “I want to do good work in the world,” he said, “and making movies wasn’t the positive force that I thought it would be.”

From the time he was young, Rabbi Hayon has always been involved in Jewish education, starting early as a camp counselor and continuing as a music educator, song leader, and Hebrew school instructor while in college and thereafter. He realized that becoming a rabbi would allow him to do everything he loved as part of his career, he said. He got his feet wet as a rabbinic intern at Temple Beth Shir Sholom in Santa Monica, and at Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, before entering the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati as a rabbinical student.

A Columbus, Ohio native, Rabbi Hayon has traveled extensively and studied abroad at Tel Aviv University, the University of York in England, and has served as a Rabbinic Intern for the Victorian Union for Progressive Judaism in Melbourne, Australia during his time at HUC-JIR. He is honored to have officially begun his rabbinate in Dallas and hopes to bring creativity, vibrancy, dynamism and excitement to his role as the rabbinic liaison to the Adult Jewish Learning and Young Adults departments at Temple Emanu-El. He loves to teach, and cherishes the opportunity to find creative new ways to illuminate the value of Torah using technology, music, and film.

Rabbi Hayon is married to Julie Hayon, a graduate student in business. They are the parents of one daughter and and one infuriating but occasionally endearing pet dog.