Rabbis

From veterans of the women’s movement to the newest generation of social justice leaders, from American pioneers to women rabbis continuing to break new ground around the world—discover the stories of women who have transformed the rabbinate…and the Jewish community.

Showing 26 - 50 of 76

Rachel Kohl Finegold

A member of the first class to graduate from Yeshivat Maharat, a seminary for ordaining Orthodox Jewish women, Rachel Kohl Finegold is the first Orthodox woman to serve in a clergy position at a Canadian synagogue.

Karen Fox

As a rabbi and a psychotherapist, Karen Fox guides and supports clients, congregants, and students on their different journeys.

Ruth Balinsky Friedman

As a member of the first cohort to graduate from Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox seminary for ordaining women, Ruth Balinsky Friedman is helping shape what religious leadership will look like for the next generation of Orthodox women and girls.

Laura Geller

One of the first women rabbis, Laura Geller has helped create new possibilities for Jewish women, from rituals to leadership roles.

Miri Gold

Miri Gold achieved a major coup for religious equality in 2012 when she became the first non-Orthodox rabbi to have her salary paid by the Israeli government.

Elyse Goldstein

As one of the first women rabbis in Canada, Elyse Goldstein has broken down barriers by founding inclusive communities for learning and prayer.

Ariella Graetz Bartuv

Ariella Graetz Bartuv grew up the daughter of a Conservative rabbi, married an Orthodox Jew of Iraqi descent, and became a Reform rabbi. She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.

Tina Grimberg

Denied the opportunity to explore her Jewish heritage as a child in Soviet Ukraine, Tina Grimberg has used her career in the rabbinate to ensure inclusivity in the Jewish community.

Susan Grossman

As a member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), Rabbi Susan Grossman has helped shape the Conservative Movement’s policies on women’s rights and their roles in Jewish life.

Jill Hammer

As co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, Jill Hammer blends ancient and modern spiritual practices to offer women alternative ways of connecting with Jewish tradition.

Delphine Horvilleur

Delphine Horvilleur is helping transform the traditional French Jewish community through her work as a leader of the Liberal Jewish Movement of France.

Sara Hurwitz

Sara Hurwitz, the first Modern Orthodox woman rabbi ordained in the United States, has worked to help her community grapple with reconciling women’s participation and a strict interpretation of Jewish law.

Jill Jacobs

As the executive director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Jill Jacobs has pushed for rabbis to act as social justice leaders in their communities on issues from environmental reform to condemning torture.

Deborah Kahn-Harris

Deborah Kahn-Harris’s passion for education has steered her career. After her ordination by Leo Baeck College, Kahn-Harris served as the National Student Chaplain for the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now known as Reform Judaism) until a new department was built around her work and she was appointed Director of Student and Young Adult Work on the Senior Management Team of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain.

Naamah Kelman

The descendent of ten generations of esteemed rabbis, Naamah Kelman has honored her heritage by becoming the first woman rabbi ordained in Israel.

Elisa Klapheck

German-born Elisa Klapheck became the first female rabbi to serve in the Netherlands. Before her ordination by the Aleph Rabbinic Program, she played a crucial role in bringing about the first international feminist gathering Bet Debora Berlin: Conference of Female Rabbis, Cantors and Rabbinic Scholars.

Zoe Klein

Zoe Klein has blended her work as a rabbi and her craft as a novelist to help congregants find meaning in the stories of their own lives.

Claudia Kreiman

After losing her mother in a terrorist bombing, Claudia Kreiman chose to honor her mother’s legacy and combine her parents’ careers by becoming both a rabbi and a Jewish educator.

Noa Kushner

Noa Kushner is driven to create new Jewish spaces. After her ordination by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Kushner served as Hillel rabbi for Sarah Lawrence College and Stanford University.

Lynne Landsberg

Lynne Landsberg had focused her rabbinic career on fighting for social justice, but when a car accident left her disabled, that fight became far more personal.

Maya Leibovich

Maya Leibovich was the first Israeli-born woman to be ordained as a rabbi, the first woman rabbi in the former Soviet Union, and the first woman rabbi to lead a military funeral service in Israel.

Carol Levithan

Carol Levithan converted to Judaism and then threw herself wholeheartedly into its midst, counseling converts and interfaith couples alike.

Joy Levitt

Rabbi Joy Levitt earned high honors as the first female head of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA), then continued to shape the movement after her term’s end, through her inclusive approach to both prayer and politics.

Naomi Levy

Both in her writing and from the pulpit, Naomi Levy has drawn upon her own experiences of weathering crisis to give others the tools to survive.

Ellen Lippmann

Ellen Lippmann seeks to include everyone in Judaism through her social justice work. After her ordination by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Lippmann served as East Coast director of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, director of the Jewish Women's Program at the New 14th Street Y in Manhattan, the first social justice chair for the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and co-chair of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, where she is still a board member.

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