Rabbi Samantha Natov
(She, her, hers)
Associate Rabbi
Email: snatov@swfs.org
Office: (212) 877-4050, ext. 244
Rabbi Samantha Natov grew up in Dundas, Ontario. She holds a bachelor’s from McGill University and a master’s in musicology and ethnomusicology from the University of Virginia. Following her time as a cantorial soloist in Toronto, Rabbi Natov came to New York to earn her degree in sacred music from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After working as a cantor at congregations in New Jersey and Brooklyn, she decided to become a rabbi. Rabbi Natov was ordained by HUC-JIR in 2015 and joined Stephen Wise Free Synagogue a few months later in July 2015.
As associate rabbi at Stephen Wise, she oversees the congregation’s adult education programming and social justice work.
Watch Sermons
Change Takes Courage
“Change seems especially palpable this time of year,” says Rabbi Sam Natov. “Pursuing change opens us up to vulnerability, but there can be no growth without change. As we enter into these High Holy Days, may we be strengthened and encouraged by each other.”
What is Justice in 2022?
This week we read the famous line, “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof — justice, justice shall you pursue.” “We repeat our plea for justice as if crying out, ‘Pay attention! Wake up to injustice in the world,’” says Rabbi Samantha Natov. “But in 2022, what does justice look like? So much of the world seems to be falling apart…”
Loving Ourselves
“Can we still be open to loving and nurturing ourselves when we feel we are missing the mark?” asks Rabbi Samantha Natov. “It is a Jewish value to judge others favorably, to judge others with the assumption that they are people of merit. So why is it difficult at times to do the same for ourselves?”
The Power of a Question
During this time of division and anger, “how can find our way back to one another?” asks Rabbi Samantha Natov. “We’ll have to ask difficult questions — and open ourselves to other points of view,” she says. “Our shared life experiences far outweigh our differences, even though they can seem impossible to bridge.”
An Incomplete Life
At the end of his life, Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised Land, the Torah tells us in this week’s parasha. “Most of us will never fully complete, never fully accomplish, never fully achieve all we set out for ourselves,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov. But, she reminds us, our legacies don’t end with us: “Our hopes and dreams are carried forward.”
A Vacation
“In this time when we especially need a vacation,” says Rabbi Sam Natov, “even just to strengthen ourselves to go back and do the critical work of helping to repair this broken world, Jewish practices will carry us forward. They will strengthen and uplift us, so that we can strengthen and uplift others.”
Confronting Untruth
“Our sages teach that deceiving others deliberately is like ‘stealing people’s minds,’” says Rabbi Sam Natov. “When you lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. You take away their ability to function in the real world. Your lie forces them to relate to something that is untrue, that never happened — and that changes reality.”
It Takes Courage
“In these days of crisis, as we still reel from one massacre, another one has already taken place,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov. “When our fears get the best of us, we may be tempted to retreat. It takes courage to stay invested, aligned and active — and that is at the heart of what it means to be a Jew.”
Reset, Renew
“The notion of a deliberate reset is an ancient Jewish concept, radical in its time, and still radical today,” says Rabbi Sam Natov. “In a city that never sleeps, movement is often our goal. When we pause, we can gain new insights about the meaning of our lives – we make space for a spiritual awakening.”
Finding Each Other Again
“Have you noticed that we are all feeling a little edgy right now?” asks Rabbi Samantha Natov. “We’re tense, prickly and irritable, as if walking with elbows out wherever we go. This is why the Jewish value of community is so important — it connects us in a circle of faith, trust and ultimately: love.”
Recent Commentaries and Op-Eds
NY1: Why Two Women’s March Events This Weekend Have Caused a Rift
Jan 18, 2019
With concerns still growing over this year’s Women’s March, leaders within Women’s March Alliance are working to distance themselves from the national organization whose leaders have been accused of anti-Semitism. A local offshoot of the national organization is holding a competing event. “It’s really a shame because it stands in the way of so much unity between us,” said Rabbi Samantha Natov of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, which held a meeting ahead of the march and where members of the Women’s March Alliance tried to ease fears about the march.
Associated Press: Schism leads to dueling women’s march events in NYC
Jan 18, 2019
Conflicts over control, inclusivity, and alleged anti-Semitism meant that women protesting on the second anniversary of the Women’s March on Washington were faced with competing demonstrations in New York City. Some Jewish groups pulled support for Women’s March Inc. and a Washington state chapter disbanded in protest. The leaders of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue urged its members to take part in the uptown march, affiliated with Women’s March Alliance. Rabbi Samantha Natov said she still has problems with the Women’s March Inc.’s reaction to allegations of anti-Semitism: “The leadership has not assuaged our most serious concerns,” she said. This story was picked up by The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other outlets.
YNET (Hebrew): American holiday, Jewish values
Nov 23, 2018
YNET spoke to our Rabbi Samantha Natov about how Thanksgiving — a secular holiday — incorporates Jewish values, like tikkun olam, which our volunteers embraced at a Thanksgiving dinner for guests of our on-site Next Step Men’s Shelter.
Kveller: Thanksgiving Is Basically a Jewish Holiday. Here’s Why.
Nov 21, 2018
Our Rabbi Samantha Natov explains how Thanksgiving is profoundly Jewish for a secular holiday, incorporating central Jewish values. “Thanksgiving offers us a chance to replenish ourselves with a sense of gratitude, well-being, and connection. And this is at the heart of Jewish life and practice.”
