Media Kit

JWB Jewish Chaplains Council

Rabbi Harold Robinson
Director, JWB Jewish Chaplains Council

Rear Admiral Rabbi Harold Robinson is the director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Rabbi Robinson earned a bachelor's of arts degree, with a concentration in history and political science, from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1968. Following graduation, he continued his studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion receiving an MA and ordination in 1974.

Rabbi Robinson was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve and in 1975 he received a superseding commission as a chaplain. As part of the Naval Reserve, he’s been a training officer, an executive officer, a commanding officer, regimental chaplain with the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, and group chaplain for the Marine Corps’ 4th Force Service Support Group, where he qualified as a Fleet Marine Force officer and served as the reserve manpower specialist for the Navy Chaplain Corps. In 2007, he retired from the Navy as the Deputy Chief of Chaplains for Reserve Matters and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Throughout his parallel military and civilian careers, he maintained an intensive commitment to community activities. During his 21-year tenure as a pulpit rabbi on Cape Cod, and 9 years in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was a visible presence in key communal and social service agencies battling discrimination and domestic violence and advocating interfaith relations and human rights.

Rabbi Robinson’s teaching experience includes faculty positions at: Camp Henry S. Jacobs Union Camp Institute (1998-99); NFTY Winter Leadership Institutes (the Reform movement's National Federation of Temple Youth, 1977-98); Joseph Eisner Union Camp Institute (1986-88); Calumet College, East Chicago, IL (1975-1076); and Centenary College, Shreveport, LA (2002-03). For 10 years, he also served as trustee of the Joseph Eisner Union Camp Institute and was elected a three year term of the Barnstable High School, MA, Education Reform Act Advisory Council.

Rabbi Robinson is an avid sailor and enjoys marathon running. He has competed in the last 11 Boston Marathons and several ultra-marathons (race courses that exceed 26.2 miles).