Rabbi Tsipora Gabai was born in 1959 in Ma'alot-Tarshiha in northern Israel into a Moroccan-Israeli family dedicated to Jewish tradition. Gabai, the youngest of nine children, was the only sibling born outside of Morocco. Her family’s origins can be traced throughout Morocco, from Boujad, Marrakesh, and Beni Mellal in central and southern Morocco to parts of northern Morocco, with Descendants of the Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal before the explusion of 1492; primarily Jews of N. Africa, Italy, the Middle East and the Balkans.Sephardi and indigenous Moroccan roots (Toshavim). Hailing from a long tradition of rabbis in her family in Morocco and Israel—including but not limited to her father, maternal grandfather, and oldest brother—Rabbi Tsipora Gabai has become the world’s first female rabbi of Moroccan descent. 

Gabai’s family emigrated to Israel in 1955 as part of the wave of the Jewish community who departed Morocco in the mid-twentieth century. Gabai’s mother and father, Yosef and Zahara Gabai, had nine children, and as the rabbi’s wife, Zohara stayed at home to raise their children. Within their home, the Gabai family spoke both Hebrew and Moroccan Arabic (Darija). Her family first settled in a Cooperative smallholder's village in Erez Israel combining some of the features of both cooperative and private farming.moshav (agricultural settlement) before her father, Yosef Gabai, helped to establish the town of Ma'alot in the north, ultimately serving as chief Sephardic rabbi of northern Israel. The town of Ma’alot shared a municipality with Tarshiha, becoming a dual Jewish-Arab municipality. For Tsipora, her father's work within this dual municipality ideologically embodied mutual respect and coexistence.

Gabai grew up in a lively and loving traditional Orthodox household in Ma'alot-Tarshiha. Her family home was always full not only because of Tsipora and her eight siblings, but also thanks to her parents’ generous hospitality, one that stems from Moroccan tradition. Due to their hospitality and her father’s role in the wider community as the chief rabbi of Ma'alot-Tarshiha, guests visited their home at all hours, seeking advice from her father (with her mother’s support) or a seat at the SabbathShabbat dinner table. Gabai's mother cooked traditional Moroccan food—including lamb, couscous, bastila, Moroccan salads, and Moroccan mint tea—for the countless shabbat guests, always preparing enough food in case additional tables of guests joined unexpectedly. The holiness and togetherness of Shabbat in the welcoming, hospitable Gabai family home instilled in Tsipora a lifelong dedication to Jewish tradition and ritual.

Gabai dreamed of becoming a rabbi from a young age. When her father asked her when she was six years ago what she wanted to be when she grew up, without hesitation she put on her father’s hat and glasses and told him she wanted to be a rabbi. Her father, knowing that at the time societal norms and expectations in Israel would prevent her from achieving this dream, informed her of these limitations while also assuring her she would be a great rabbi. 

Growing up in an atmosphere of Jewish teaching and learning, Gabai would sit alongside her father as he taught visiting students in the living room; when they did not know the answer to her father’s question, she would speak to her father in Moroccan Arabic, shouting that she knew the answer, which she would proceed to share with the rest of the group. The young Tsipora had a passion for Jewish learning and ritual; while her goal of becoming a rabbi was a distant dream during her childhood, she continued to sing and chant in the mirror while wearing her father’s Four-cornered prayer shawl with fringes (zizit) at each corner.tallit for years to come. 

At age eighteen, Gabai enrolled at the University of Haifa, where she studied Bible and Jewish history. She also received a master’s degree in Education and Bible in Israel and earned a teaching credential in 1988. Moving with her husband, Yahudi Weinenger, to the United States in 1989, she continued her studies at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, where she graduated with a Certificate of School Administration, while her husband worked as a psychologist. Once in the United States, Gabai and her husband had three children: two daughters and a son. 

Gabai’s family then moved to northern California, where Gabai served as the principal and Sunday school director for the Beth Jacob Hebrew School in Oakland. She then worked as a teacher and administrator in the Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito. Throughout this time, her passion for Jewish teaching outside of the formal classroom remained; even before attending rabbinical school, she led High Holiday services in the Sephardi tradition. Her friends and peers later encouraged her to formally become ordained as a rabbi. While Gabai always dreamed of becoming a rabbi to follow in her father’s footsteps, it was thanks to her family and friends’ continuous encouragement that she finally made the decision to enroll. 

Gabai attended rabbinical school from 2000 to 2003 at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, a transdenominational seminary, where she studied The legal corpus of Jewish laws and observances as prescribed in the Torah and interpreted by rabbinic authorities, beginning with those of the Mishnah and Talmud.halakhah and Jewish texts, including Lit. "teaching," "study," or "learning." A compilation of the commentary and discussions of the amora'im on the Mishnah. When not specified, "Talmud" refers to the Babylonian Talmud.Talmud, Codification of basic Jewish Oral Law; edited and arranged by R. Judah ha-Nasi c. 200 C.E.Mishnah, and the Zohar. Throughout her rabbinical training, she continued working as the Head of Judaic and Hebrew Studies and as assistant director of Tehiyah Day School, traveling once a week for two ays from Berkeley to Los Angeles to study. She continued at the day school until it closed in 2018.  

Following her lifelong dream, Gabai graduated from rabbinical school in 2003. She received a master’s degree in Judaic Studies as well; she and two other women made up the Academy for Jewish Religion’s entire inaugural class. While her father passed away before she could achieve this dream, his influence has profoundly influenced her teachings. 

After being ordained, Gabai did not seek to become a pulpit rabbi. Instead, she became the spiritual leader for the Tehiya Day School community, continuing to teach; officiate life-cycle events such as weddings, Lit. "son of the commandment." A boy who has reached legal-religious maturity and is now obligated to fulfill the commandmentsbar mitzvahs, and funerals; and lead services in the Moroccan Sephardic tradition. She is versed in Lit. "Eastern." Jew from Arab or Muslim country.Mizrahi and Sephardi Hebrew liturgical poempiyyut, prayers, and Torah trope and spreads her love for piyuttim in the wider Jewish community of the Bay area. Having once led services in an Jews of European origin and their descendants, including most of North and South American Jewry.Ashkenazi conservative temple in Northern California, she remains in contact with the congregation and provides recordings of the Sephardi-style prayers as they continue to use the book she created for their own Sephardi-style services. Gabai leads her community with courage, creativity, and devotion to Jewish tradition through her knowledge of the Torah. 

In 2015, Gabai received the Landres Courage for Dignity Award, given by the organization Keshet to honor individuals who support the LGBTQ+ community in extraordinary ways. At her Jewish day school, Gabai was approached by a family whose child was struggling with his gender identity and wished to transition. From the very first moment, she expressed her unwavering support for her student, who asked if Rabbi Gabai would lead a naming ceremony and a Bar Mitzvah for him. Studying Jewish texts to make sure she could lead the services in a halakhic and meaningful way, she created a ceremony that honored and supported her student’s journey to transition. In a recorded interview following her award, Gabai stated that she explored “the wealth of Judaism” that exists, the blessings in the Jewish tradition that stress the “beauty of creating a human being, about respecting and honoring differences.” For her, it was a moment that represented a core Jewish teaching from the Talmud: “to save one soul is to save an entire world.” Gabai sees teaching children as a sacred task. She has also received the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education and The Guendelman Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Gabai continues to lead her community and serve as a spiritual Jewish leader and rabbi. As of 2026, she remains the only Moroccan female rabbi and one of four female Mizrahi/Sephardic rabbis worldwide. She leads High Holiday services and officiates weddings, baby namings, funerals, and bar mitzvahs while also supporting and mentoring the next generation, including her own grandchildren, who join her in leading services in the Moroccan tradition. Overcoming the challenges of becoming a female rabbi and balancing her spiritual work with motherhood, Gabai honors the Moroccan Jewish tradition while working to build an inclusive Jewish future for everyone. She strives to embody the Jewish teaching “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” (“All of Israel Are Responsible for One Another”), believing in a deep sense of unity and unconditional love of the Jewish people. She lives in northern California surrounded by her three children and grandchildren.