Our Rabbis
Rabbi Michael and Rabbi Carol Calise co-lead Beth Emanuel Synagogue located in Holbrook, NY on Long Island. They have two children, Josiah who is 28 and Abigail who is 25.
Rabbi Michael Calise is from a Sephardic Jewish background. His Jewish grandmother was raised in a rabbi’s home in Turkey. He came to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel in his early twenties and immediately sensed a call from Adonai to prepare for full-time ministry. He has formal biblical training and received his ordination from the Assemblies of God and his Master’s of Theology from Pentecostal Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Carol is from a Gentile background and came to faith at six years old. As a single woman she took the Covenant of Ruth and began to live a Jewish lifestyle in 1980. After living in Israel for a year on a kibbutz, she was invited to join the staff of Beth Emanuel working as Dr. Ray Gannon’s assistant. She has been ministering at Beth Emanuel for 40 years. She received her Master’s from NYU in the Department of Judaic Studies with a concentration in the Ancient Near East.
Together they serve this community of faith with a passion to see people’s live changed and transformed through an encounter with the Messiah of Israel.