RABBI ROGER ROSS-The New Synagogue Reviews

Name: RABBI ROGER ROSS-The New Synagogue
Address: Washington, DC, 20001
Rating: 4.6

RABBI ROGER ROSS-The New Synagogue

Washington, DC

4.6 out of 5 rating, 24 reviews

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4.6 out of 5 rating

4.6

Very good

24 reviews

Recommended by 92% of couples

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Quality of service
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Average response time
4.6 out of 5 rating
Professionalism
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4.6 out of 5 rating

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Katherine Sent on 11/05/2019

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Wonderful, Perfect!

Rabbi Roger Ross came highly recommended as an interfaith officiant from Crabtree's Kittle House, and my husband and I could not be happier that we reached out to him to officiate our wedding. He first came all the way to NYC to meet with us and customize our wedding day that represented both Christian and Jewish faiths, and over the summer he even invited us to his home to finalize the wedding ceremony details. He has a wonderful sense of humor and gently reminded us to enjoy the process and look forward to all the incredible memories still to be made ahead. We also very much appreciated his willingness to have us read our own personal vows in addition to the traditional vows. He did a perfect job of blending and unifying both faiths, both in Hebrew and in English. Our family members and friends have said already that our ceremony was the best one they had the privilege of attending. He received so many compliments! We cannot thank him enough!
Alissa Sent on 07/24/2019

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Fantastic!

Rabbi Ross officiated our wedding a few weeks ago. He was very flexible and willing to take a car 4 hours to our service and back all in one day. We had multiple phone calls and a meeting with him. He was very helpful on guiding us on our interfaith service. All of our guests enjoyed him. We highly recommend him and hope to work with him again in the future!
Danil Sent on 04/22/2019

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Kind, Caring, Clear

As soon as we met with Rabbi Ross we knew he would be the one to be our officiant. We felt so comfortable chatting with him. He walked us through the ceremony procedures and gave us options on how we would like our ceremony performed. We kept it short, sweet and meaningful just as we imagined. Rabbi Ross spoke very clearly and was highly complimented by our families. We know that he is now our Rabbi not just for the wedding but for life.

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Mytra Sent on 06/10/2018

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Rabbi Ross is fantastic! He really does mean that his only rules are no sky diving, no scuba diving, and yes to everything else! For our interfaith wedding, Rabbi Ross agreed to combine both aspects of our culture (Jewish and Persian). He allowed us to write a script and stuck to it! He was a great communicator, arrived very early on the day of the event, and helped to make our wedding so successful. If you are looking for a rabbi, especially one who conducts interfaith weddings, I suggest you book Rabbi Ross immediately!!
Danielle Sent on 06/06/2018

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Rabbi Ross performed an interfaith marriage for us and they were great! The ceremony was light/fun hearted and seamlessly intertwined our Jewish and Catholic faiths. They personalized our ceremony and it was just so special and perfect.
Marisa Sent on 12/08/2017

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My husband and I are so thankful for Rabbi Ross. He conducted a most special, warm and balanced interfaith ceremony for our wedding. I cannot recommend Rabbi Ross more highly. He managed to seamlessly weave elements of both our faiths, demonstrating similarities and consistencies within both religions. All of my guests made mention of how wonderful Rabbi Ross was.
Amy Sent on 11/13/2017

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Rabbi Ross did an amazing job
Cheryl Sent on 07/30/2017

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We were married this past June and Rabbi Ross officiated. I am Jewish and my husband was raised Catholic (but is non-practicing). I wanted a Rabbi to marry us with traditional aspects of a Jewish wedding and my husband really did not want the ceremony to be religious. Rabbi Ross did a combination of both. He took traditional aspects of Judaism and explained their relevance and how all religions shared many components. The ceremony was beautiful and perfect. We were both happy. Rabbi Ross is also funny, comforting and nice to be around. Our guests loved him. I would highly recommend him.
Katya Sent on 02/19/2017

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We are so happy we had Rabbi Roger Ross as our rabbi! From our first call, he took us through how the ceremony would flow and was very responsive to any of our questions via phone and emails! He arrived early the day of the wedding and made our Ketubah signing so special. The ceremony itself was very sentimental, had all the traditions but Rabbi Ross also added humor and kept it short and sweet. So many of our family and friends have told us how great it was. We would definitely recommend Rabbi Roger Ross to anyone looking for a rabbi for their wedding!
Michelle Sent on 07/25/2016

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Rabbi Ross was recommended to us by a close friend and we cannot be happier with our decision. He gave us exactly what we wanted for our inter-faith ceremony. Before we met with him, I was so nervous about the ceremony because I wanted everyone to feel comfortable. Rabbi Ross was calming, funny, easygoing, and accommading and my worries slowly went away. We received so many compliments on our beautiful ceremony and our wonderfully rabbi. It was a pleasure working with Rabbi Ross and would gladly recommend him!
Polina Sent on 12/19/2015

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Rabbi Roger Ross made our wedding day absolutely perfect. From day 1 of meeting him he answered all of our questions about how the day of was going to go. He was very easy going and crafted the ceremony to exactly what me and my fiance wanted. I highly recommend him for all future couples who are looking for an officiant to make there day special. Our ceremony was amazing due to his beautiful words and till this day my guests are telling me how romantic and touching our ceremony was.
User2216648 Sent on 07/08/2015

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Rabbi Ross was a wonderful addition to our ceremony. He helped my husband and I create a perfect moment combining both my jewish and his christian faith. Religion was very important to me growing up and to this day, so it was comforting to have some of the most vital parts of a jewish wedding present on our special day. Our guests are still telling us how beautiful the ceremony was and how we were able to honor those not in attendance and involve family members as part of the ceremony. Our skype calls in the months leading to the wedding sealed the deal and made us feel much more comfortable planning a wedding and beautiful ceremony from outside the area. Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a perfect interfaith wedding.
Yana Sent on 06/22/2015

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Rabbi Roger Ross was an officiant at our wedding. He was a pleasure to work. He was very professional and responsive , always returning emails and making suggestions on where to purchase items for the ceremony. He conducted the ceremony in exactly the way we had requested ( short and sweet ) . Rabbi Roger Ross was funny , pleasant and spoke beautiful words of wisdom. My family was thrilled at the service he performed.
Christine Sent on 04/27/2015

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The Rabbi and his wife, Reverand Deb, conducted an interfaith wedding ceremony for my wife and I. They were incredible!! Before the wedding, they took time to Go over the ceremony with us and helped us tailor it to fit exactly what we wanted. We ended up writing our own vows, and they helped us incorporate them beautifully into the ceremony. At cocktail hour, all of our guests were raving about how wonderful our ceremony and our officiants were! The Rabbi and the Reverand were both so helpful and understanding and wonderful throughout the whole process. You will not regret choosing them as your officiants!!!
User1414078 Sent on 10/31/2013

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We could not have asked for a better Rabbi to conduct our interfaith ceremony. My now husband grew up Jewish, and wanted to incorporate as much of his faith into our ceremony, and having grown up Filipino catholic, it was important to me to uphold some of our traditions too. He was humorous, and really worked the crowd as they called him "the best rabbi they have ever had the pleasure of listening to". He was a wonderful man, who met with us 3 times in "pre marital" type counseling sessions, and he made it seem like he was really invested in getting to know us as a couple.

We are so honored to have had him conduct the ceremony of our love. Three cheers for Rabbi Ross!
User1393945 Sent on 07/25/2013

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Rabbi Ross was the officiant at our wedding a few weeks ago. He did an amazing job. Let's just put it this way: When my husband and I got to cocktail hour and greeted our guests, the first thing that nine out of ten people said to us was "Your rabbi was incredible!!". We got so so many positive comments and so much positive feedback from our guests about Rabbi Ross. Everyone loved how the Rabbi explained the main components of the ceremony and all the beautiful words of advice that he gave. My husband and I were thrilled to hear all the positive feedback from our guests, which to us meant everyone was paying attention during the ceremony and really felt connected. This was important to us since a large portion of our guests are not religious and many not even Jewish. Not only were we thrilled that our guests took to the Rabbi so well, we were thrilled at what a wonderful job the Rabbi did of making my husband and I feel so comfortable and calm under the huppah. He was very professional, arrived on time, and followed the program that he had previously discussed with us. There were no surprises, no awkward moments. Rabbi Ross made my wedding ceremony the most special moment of my life.
Pamela Sent on 06/20/2012

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Rabbi Ross and Father Nelson co-officiated our interfaith ceremony and were both amazing! They have been doing interfaith ceremonies together for a long time now and it definitely shows. There was a flow between the two that created a masterful, beautiful, heartfelt ceremony that definitely had some of our guests in tears. So down to earth, so flexible, so nice! Just two of the nicest guys you will ever meet! All 4 of our parents loved them as well- all 8 of us actually went out to a very lovely dinner to get to know each other better and it couldn't have gone smoother. We went a little over our budget on officiants, but it was well worth it. It was not an easy task for us to decide who was going to officiate our wedding, (and how) but we felt very confident immediately after meeting Rabbi Ross and Father Nelson that we no longer had to worry about our ceremony.
Sarah Sent on 08/13/2016

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Rabbi Ross has three rules for the wedding ceremony: (1) he won’t jump out of airplanes, (2) he won’t bungee jump, and (3) he won’t scuba dive. Other than that, he likes to say the answer to everything is “Yes!” This was a very helpful approach for preparing a thoughtful, welcoming, inclusive interfaith ceremony. From the beginning, we wanted a wedding ceremony that felt authentically Jewish while also acknowledging certain parallels between elements of the Jewish and Hindu wedding ceremony traditions. Additionally, we wanted Rabbi Ross to explain the key elements of the Jewish ceremony so that our many non-Jewish family and friends would be able to follow along and learn a little bit about Jewish culture and history. Finally, as my husband is atheist, he wanted to be certain that the Rabbi we chose would both be comfortable with his feelings and also with translating the Hebrew prayers in a more Universalist way (e.g., “we give thanks for the abundance of the earth” rather than “we thank God for providing grapes and wine”). Rabbi Ross was happy to accommodate these requests. Indeed, within 24 hours after meeting in person, Rabbi Ross had sent us a 7-page proposal for his wedding speech, including much of the exact wording and indicating what explanations would come when. He welcomed our feedback and requests. More than a few of the guests commented that despite being of a different faith or persuasion, they enjoyed the ceremony. One guest even said Rabbi Ross had prepared a more thoughtful speech than the one at the guest’s daughter’s interfaith wedding weeks before! In addition to the spiritual elements of the ceremony, Rabbi Ross reminded us to obtain our marriage license ahead of time and bring it to the ceremony for him to finalize and send to the State, as well as tipped us off to where to buy our ketubah. There are so many elements that go into wedding planning that we were grateful for the assistance with these administrative details.
Jocelyn Sent on 10/01/2015

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My husband and I got married last weekend and couldn't be happier to have chosen Rabbi Roger Ross as our officiant. Throughout the entire process leading up to the wedding, Rabbi Ross was helpful, accommodating and available. He offered the perfect combination of Jewish tradition and modern dialogue within our ceremony. Also, we loved the fact that he injected humor into the ceremony, providing wedding guests with a number of laughs. We received so many compliments on our "awesome rabbi" and are so glad that we chose Rabbi Ross. He was a wonderful addition to our ceremony and we would absolutely recommend him to any couple.
Ariel Sent on 08/08/2016

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We had a fantastic experience with Rabbi Ross. He was incredibly open and willing to work with my husband and me to craft a ceremony that suited our personalities perfectly. He was kind and generous throughout the planning process and although we didn't meet with him much, always made us feel comfortable and at ease. After meeting with some officiants who were uncomfortable officiating a Jewish ceremony where one of the people (in this case my husband) is not Jewish, Rabbi Ross's willingness to welcome us with open arms was incredibly refreshing. The ceremony itself was just beautiful, in large part due to Rabbi Ross's warmth and wisdom. I would recommend him without hesitation.
Jenny Sent on 08/31/2015

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Rabbi Ross was very helpful and responsive in helping to create an interfaith ceremony for me and my husband. All of our guests really loved the ceremony as it had a great mixture of non-religious and personal elements!
Steven Sent on 07/31/2012

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Rabbi Ross, provided us with a fantastic ceremony, one that people say was the best ceremony they have every been to.

We had a unique situation where we wanted a Rabbi for a Saturday Afternoon wedding that was not religious at all (yes, I understand how much of an oxymoron this is...). From the first time we met the Rabbi (at a restaurant halfway between my home in northen Westchester and his in Manhattan), we knew we found the perfect person for the job. He was very friendly, joking around and was extremely laid back.

Future communication after the initial meeting was done primarily via email. He was not always the quickest to respond- it could be up to a week- but he always did. If something was needed faster, I could always call to ask him to check his email.

We did have a second meetup, but he was not very flexible with it- it had to be at his apartment on the upper west side and only on a limited number of days. This meetup did clear up a lot of small details and worries we had, though.

On the day of the ceremony, he arrived a bit late, and he had forgotten something we emailed him a few weeks earlier- the name of our deceased grandparents we wanted mentioned in the ceremony, and we had to rush to give him the list again. Because he was late, the rehearsal was somewhat rushed.

A lot of these issues can be forgotten about though because the ceremony was so incredible, lighthearted and exactly what we wanted. It is definitely a ceremony people won't forget.
Amy Sent on 06/11/2014

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So I agree with most others who have offered commentary on Rabbi Ross, in that his service was well received by our guests. But with that we did have some issues ... our service was interfaith, celebrating both faiths. He pushed toward having the service a very specific way - opening and closing the service. He pushed toward not having the ring barer carry the ring, then the kicker is that he literally quibbled about his fee after the fact because the "thought" he was getting paid less than the minister, when he was paid 33% MORE and he was comparing himself to a 20+ year relationship. Kind of greedy gross. So if you decide to use, get your $ in writing and INSIST on what YOU and YOUR PARTNER's agenda - not his agenda.
Stan Sent on 04/28/2014

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Rabbi Ross promised to do a non-religious wedding. However, during the wedding, he proceeded saying things in Hebrew. The ceremony was very awkward because of it. When he was confronted after the wedding, he apologized and quickly fleed the scene. I was very disappointed with the service and would not recommend him to anyone looking for a non religious wedding officiant.

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