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 51 - 75 of 76

Jane Rachel Litman

In 1989, Jane Rachel Litman became one of the first women rabbis and the first openly LGBTQ person admitted to a rabbinical seminary. After their ordination by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Litman served as rabbi at LGBTQ-outreach congregations Kol Simcha and Sha’ar Zahav, and lectured at Loyola Marymount College, American Jewish University, and California State University, Northridge where they co-founded its Queer Studies Institute.

Janet Marder

Janet Marder became the first woman to lead a major rabbinical organization and the first woman to lead any major Jewish co-ed religious organization in the United States.

Dalia Marx

As a professor of liturgy at the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where students from around the world learn to become Reform rabbis, Dalia Marx is helping to shape how a new generation approaches prayer.

Avis Miller

As someone who came to the rabbinate later in life, Avis Miller has searched for new ways to educate and engage those on the margins of the Jewish community.

Michelle Missaghieh

Michelle Missaghieh actively works to integrate her interests in conversion, aging, and intergenerational conversation with the needs of her community.

Haviva Ner-David

Haviva Ner-David’s 2006 ordination made her one of the first Orthodox women to claim the title of “Rabbi,” part of her lifelong work to enable Jewish women—and Jews in general—to reexamine and reengage with the tradition.

Julia Neuberger

Baroness Julia Neuberger’s work as a rabbi helps guide her decisions as a voting member of the House of Lords.

Debra Orenstein

A seventh-generation rabbi, Debra Orenstein is a member of the first class to ordain women as rabbis at The Jewish Theological Seminary and worked her way through school as an actress. After her ordination, Orenstein lectured at the American Jewish University and at other universities and synagogues.

Barbara Penzner

Barbara Penzner brings her passion for social justice wherever she goes, inspiring her congregations and those around her. After her ordination by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Penzner began to serve as rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Sally J. Priesand

Throughout her career, Sally J. Priesand has grappled with her role as the first woman rabbi ordained in America.

Chaya Rowen Baker

Since her ordination in 2007 by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, Rabbi Chaya Rowen Baker has served as the rabbi of Kehillat Ramot-Zion in French Hill, Jerusalem. After her army service, she was head of MAROM, the Masorti student and young adult organization.

Joanna Samuels

Joanna Samuels fights for immigrant rights at the Jewish community center that she founded. After her ordination by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Samuels served as rabbi at Congregation Habonim in New York City.

Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah

As both one of the first women and one of the first openly gay rabbis to be ordained in Britain, Elli Tikvah Sarah has shattered assumptions about what it means to be part of—and to lead—the Jewish community.

Sandy Sasso

The first woman rabbi ordained by the Reconstructionist movement, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso has used her career as an award-winning author to change how children and adults think about women in Jewish tradition.

Julie Schonfeld

As the first female executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the professional organization for Conservative rabbis, Julie Schonfeld has helped shape the Conservative movement’s approach to prayer as well as its response to world politics.

Julie Schwartz

Julie Schwartz’s decision to become the first woman rabbi to serve as an active duty chaplain in the US Military broadened women’s roles in Jewish and civic leadership.

Tanya Segal

As the first full-time female rabbi in Poland, Tanya Segal has creatively transformed Jewish life in the historic city of Krakow, the site of previous revolutions in Jewish thought and practice.

Kinneret Shiryon

The first woman rabbi in Israel, Kinneret Shiryon has helped introduce Israelis to the possibilities of liberal Judaism and significantly advanced religious equality in Israel when her synagogue, Kehillat Yozma, became the first non-Orthodox congregation to receive funding from the state.

Rebecca Sirbu

Rebecca Sirbu brings her passion for organizing for change to the Jewish world. She is the founder of RabbiCareers.com, the first open source job site for rabbis. Committed to fighting for gender equity, she co-founded the Gender Equity in Hiring Project in the Jewish community. As of this writing, she serves as the Director of the Division of Member and Unit Services at Hadassah, reinvigorating the largest Jewish women’s organization in the US. Previously, she was the Director of Rabbis Without Borders at CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. The Forward named her one of the “Most Inspirational Rabbis in America.”

Mychal Springer

Mychal Springer created the Center for Pastoral Education to enable hospital chaplains of all backgrounds to learn from Jewish models for visiting the sick while incorporating the wisdom of other pastoral traditions.

Shira Stutman

Shira Stutman’s belief in the importance of “radical welcoming” informs everything about the way she cultivates community as senior rabbi of Washington DC’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.

Jackie Tabick

Jackie Tabick helped pave the way for others as Great Britain’s first female rabbi.

Deborah Waxman

Deborah Waxman is the first woman and the first lesbian to simultaneously lead both a seminary and a congregational organization as head of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and Reconstructing Judaism, the central organization of the Reconstructionist movement.

Elyse Winick

Elyse Winick has worked to engage a diverse Jewish community throughout her career. Winick is currently the Senior Director, Learning and Education at Combined Jewish Philanthropies and a member of the faculty of M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Learning.

Elianna Yolkut

Elianna Yolkut was born Orthodox and is now an openly gay Conservative rabbi. Yolkut was ordained in 2006 by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, where she later served as an adjunct faculty member while serving as Assistant Rabbi at Adat Ari El in nearby Valley Village.

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