Rabbi Joe Schwartz is a Rabbinic Fellow of the David Hartman Center, and served for three years as Rabbi of the Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue, a small, traditional-egalitarian synagogue in Greenwich Village.

Joe is now working on the creation of IDRA, a house of culture, learning and coffee in Brooklyn that is a new-old model for the Jewish and Jewish-adjacent and Jewish-curious community. IDRA aims to restore the café and its ethos to the heart of Jewish community. It will house regular learning groups, feature concerts, screenings, readings, panel discussions, and will host communal Shabbat and holiday meals. It will also offer Hebrew-language classes,child-focused programing, and will serve the best of global Jewish cuisine, excellent coffee, with a full bar. It will be a spiritual home and intellectual center for American Jews and Israelis or anyone who finds themselves drawn to the complexity of Jewishness.

A graduate of Columbia College and NYU School of Law, Joe worked as a litigator for several years prior to entering the rabbinate. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Alyson, and their two children.