Andrew Jacobs, the spiritual leader of Ramat Shalom Synagogue in Plantation, Florida, was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. He received a B.A. in religion from Vassar College and an M.A. in Jewish art and material culture from the Jewish Theological Seminary in consortium with the Jewish Museum and Columbia University. Jacobs studied rabbinic literature at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and was a member of the Tel Miqne-Ekron excavation team while studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.