Rabbi William C. Berk is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College. At the Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Berk won awards in Homiletics and for social action work. He is a graduate of the University of California in Berkeley and holds a lifetime teaching credential from the state of California, where he taught public school for three years. Rabbi Berk has served as Rabbi of Temple Chai in Phoenix, Arizona for 19 years. When he began in 1983, Temple Chai had 80 families and under his leadership has grown to 1100. He is a past President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix, and the Paradise Valley Ministerial Association. He was on the founding committee of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School.
Rabbi Berk is currently a Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute's Center for Rabbinic Enrichment. He recently was asked to serve on the advisor board for Bayit Chadash, Israel's blossoming new movement for developing Israeli spiritual life. Rabbi Berk was instrumental in the founding of Temple Chai's Shalom Center for Healing, and has been active in the movement for synagogue involvement for Jews with Special Needs.
