In July, Rabbi John Franken, associate rabbi at Temple Israel, will head to Boston to become senior rabbi at Temple Ohabei Shalom.

Franken has served Temple Israel since July 2003, which was his first rabbinic post after his ordination in May 2003.

Temple Ohabei Shalom is an historic congregation of around 440 families in Brookline, Mass.

“It’s certainly bittersweet,” Rabbi Franken said. “Naturally, it’s more sweet and exciting to me, than bitter, but I will really miss the wonderful friendships and relationships that I’ve established here and built over time. It’s been very rewarding after five years.”

The board of Temple Ohabei Shalom voted unanimously on Feb. 7 to approve Franken as the congregation’s next senior rabbi. Franken told the Temple Israel board about the new post during the congregation’s February board meeting. The next day, Temple Israel senior rabbi Mark Shook sent a letter to congregants informing them of Rabbi Franken’s impending departure.

“Rabbi Franken has deeply enriched the spiritual life of the congregation,” wrote Rabbi Shook, who announced that the congregation would hold a special Shabbat Service on Friday, June 6 to “celebrate Rabbi Franken’s new position and express our gratitude for his exemplary service.”

Franken said the move to New England will be “a homecoming in a lot of ways.” He was raised in New Haven, Conn., and he attended Tufts University in Boston.

During his years at Temple Israel, Rabbi Franken said some of his proudest moments were establishing the Israeli House at Temple Israel, and strengthening the congregation’s post-confirmation program. In particular, Franken said he has been pleased to see the post-confirmation trip to Washington D.C. become a “sort of rite of passage” for the temple’s teens.

“I really believe in informal Jewish education, and one way to do that is through travel,” Rabbi Franken said.

Franken has led three trips to Israel during his years at Temple Israel, and he has another trip coming up in June. He is one of the rabbis going with Israel Bound, an Israel trip for teens in the local Reform community. Already, more than 20 teens have signed up, he said.

“We’re really hopeful that this will be the beginning of something really great and that will grow, not only in the Reform community, but for teens in the St. Louis Jewish community as a whole,” Franken said.

“I think there’s no more powerful, or more effective investment in our kids’ Jewish identity than Israel travel.”

Franken has also served as treasurer and more recently, as vice president, of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association, and he has chaired the group’s Adult Institute for three years.

In a column in the Temple Ohabei Shalom newsletter, the congregation’s president, Leonard M. Davidson, wrote that the congregational vote to approve Rabbi Franken as the next senior rabbi, “marks the culmination of a lengthy and important search process…for those of us who have gotten to know Rabbi Franken during the search process, it was an affirmation of Rabbi Franken’s many strengths and his desire to serve our congregation with intelligence, care, and deep commitment.”