# Dianne Cohler-Esses

 

- Dianne Cohler-Esses, the first Syrian Jewish woman to become a rabbi, remembers her parents’ shock when she told them about her career plan.
    
    
    
     [view details](/media/get-married-first)
- As a woman in rabbinical school, Dianne Cohler-Esses quickly realized that the models for her male classmates were not going to work for her.
    
    
    
     [view details](/media/imagining-new-model-as-rabbi)
- Dianne Cohler-Esses discusses the struggles she has had with her community's standards since choosing to become the first Syrian Jewish female (and the first liberal Syrian) rabbi.
    
    
    
     [view details](/media/shame-turns-to-support)
- As the mother of children with special needs, Dianne Cohler-Esses has had to grapple with (and challenge) community expectations.
    
    
    
     [view details](/media/loss-of-faith-leads-to-god)





 

 - ![Still image from YouTube video Get Married First](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DaMEfsHGvOQ/mqdefault.jpg)
    
    
    
    
    
    Get Married First
- ![Still image from YouTube video Imagining a New Model as a Rabbi](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eFMuTPvuxK4/mqdefault.jpg)
    
    
    
    
    
    Imagining a New Model as…
- ![Still image from YouTube video Shame Turns to Support](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uq5ARvWyiyg/mqdefault.jpg)
    
    
    
    
    
    Shame Turns to Support
- ![Still image from YouTube video Loss of Faith Leads to God](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0gDJJE8Jgec/mqdefault.jpg)
    
    
    
    
    
    Loss of Faith Leads to…





 

 

  



 [   ![Dianne Cohler-Esses](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/cohler.jpg?itok=dS0OjoLn) ](/media/dianne-cohler-esses-0)

Photo of Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses, courtesy of Dianne Cohler-Esses.



 [View Details](/media/dianne-cohler-esses-0) 

 

 

As the first woman rabbi from the Syrian community, Dianne Cohler-Esses has used teaching to open up new possibilities for others. Raised in a traditional Syrian-American community, Cohler-Esses has written about her struggle for acceptance, explaining her desire to become a rabbi to friends and family, and the painful and surprisingly beautiful process of seeking permission to deliver her father’s eulogy at his Orthodox synagogue. After her ordination by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1995, Cohler-Esses began working for Mishpacha, an online outreach, education, and support program for Jewish families across America. In 1998 she became co-director and senior educator for the Bronfman Youth Fellowship. She taught for four years as scholar in residence at the UJA Federation before becoming director of lifelong learning at Kehilat Romemu, a Jewish renewal community, in 2012. She continues to write, speak, and teach at Romemu and elsewhere on issues of Jewish tradition, ethnicity, and disability.



 

 

 Topics: [Feminism](/topics/feminism), [Teachers](/topics/teachers), [Rabbis](/topics/rabbis), [Disability Rights](/topics/disability-rights) 

 

 

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 Madison 6 years ago

In one of the interviews Cohler-Esses mentions that there has been another woman from the Syrian-Jewish community that has become a rabbi. Anyone know the name of her? I would love to know more.



- [Reply](/comment/reply/node/21937/field_comments/12946)