Rabbi Phillip Labowitz

Having served the Jewish Community of Fort Lauderdale since 1973, Rabbi Phil has one of the longest tenures of Rabbinic Leadership in Broward county. Some of his many community involvements include having served on the Boards for Overseers of Broward Community College, Jewish Family Service, and the Jewish Federation.

Rabbi Labowitz, who began his distinguished career in 1962 with his ordination as an orthodox rabbi, led congregations in the Northeast and in South Florida.

He has been a personal mentor to all who have come into his warm and wonderful embrace, teaching them the joy of Judaism. Valuing the need for intensive Jewish education, he was instrumental as one of the founders of the David Posnack Hebrew Day School.

Rabbi Phillip finds great joy in performing weddings for today’s couples. He has officiated Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and Bris/Namings of today’s brides and grooms as well as having married their parents! As Chaplain of Hospice, he has found great fulfillment in his role as a healer, comforting the dying and counseling their loved ones.

In 1992, he and his wife and soul mate Rabbi Shoni embarked upon a new path, spreading the joyful spirit of Jewish Renewal with the co-founding of Temple Adath Or. This labor of love has helped the Jewish community of South Florida discover that Judaism can provide the spiritual sustenance we crave. From impromptu Shabbat services in their living room, TAO has grown to a 250 member congregation. At TAO’s Shabbat services members of South Florida’s Jewish “family” find themselves “coming home”.

Today, Rabbi Phillip continues to be the same loving, gracious and approachable soul he was when he began his rabbinical journey in 1962. He counts among his many blessings his sons, Pierre, Rabbi Marc and Rabbi Arik, who, inspired by their special parents, have chosen to emulate their pathways in life. We, the community of TAO, are blessed to have him as well as one of our two current spiritual guides.