Rabbi Gary Pokras

Rabbi Gary Pokras returned to Western New York and became Temple Beth Zion's tenth Senior Rabbi on July 1, 2011. Rabbi Pokras was the overwhelming choice of the synagogue's Search Committee and Board of Trustees and he received the unanimous vote of the congregation at a special meeting in April 2011.

Rabbi Pokras served as associate rabbi at Temple Beth Zion from 1999 to 2002, when he left to assume the pulpit at Temple Judea. Before entering the rabbinate, he was a professional guitarist specializing in classical and jazz music. Rabbi Pokras studied economics and guitar at Northwestern University and also received masters' degrees in guitar performance and music theory from The Meadows School for the Arts at Southern Methodist University. The Connecticut native was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's New York City Campus.