Rabbis

Content type
Collection

Robert Loewy

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Rabbi Robert Lowey on November 29, 2006, in Metairie, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Rabbi Lowey talks about his family, career as a senior rabbi, and experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina, highlighting the importance of gathering, decision-making, and providing solace to the congregation.

Shulamit Izen, 2001

Shulamit Izen

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Shulamit Izen on January 14, 2002, in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Shulamit shares her journey of self-discovery as a lesbian, her exploration of different Jewish practices, her experiences in starting a GSA at her Jewish high school, and her activism in creating a supportive community for GLBTQ Jewish youth.

Rabbi Ronne Friedman

Ronne Friedman

Project
Soviet Jewry

Gabriel Weinstein, Tamar Shachaf Schneider, and Aaron Hirsch interviewed Ronne Friedman on November 15, 2016, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Rabbi Friedman discusses Temple Israel's involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, missions to the USSR, a tense encounter with customs agents, reconnecting with the Charney family, outreach efforts by Temple Israel, and a meaningful encounter in St. Petersburg.

Tobie Weisman

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Sandy Gartner and Ann Buffum interviewed Tobie Weisman on August 15, 2005, in Montpelier, Vermont, as part of the Vermont Jewish Women's Oral History Project. Weisman shares her family's immigration history, her upbringing, early experiences in Israel, her rabbinical training, and ultimately finding fulfillment in marriage and joining her husband's organic fruit tree farm in Vermont.

Mindy Portnoy

Mindy Portnoy

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Rabbi Mindy Portnoy on November 9, 2010, in Washington, DC, as part of the Washington D.C. Stories Oral History Project. Rabbi Portnoy shares her personal journey and observations as a female rabbi, her motivations for entering the rabbinate, her perceptions of women in this new position, and her responses to challenges during a transformative period in Jewish life.

Larry Orlansky

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Larry Orlansky on January 27, 2008, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Orlansky talks about his Jewish upbringing in Greenville, Mississippi, his involvement in the local Jewish community, his experience working at a Reform Jewish summer camp, his college years and legal career, the impact of Hurricane Katrina on his life, and the resilience of New Orleans and its Jewish community.

Theodore Lichtenfeld

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Theodore Lichtenfeld on August 21, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Lichtenfeld reflects on his upbringing, ​​his arrival in New Orleans as a rabbi, the challenges faced during the storm and its aftermath, and his optimism for the future of Shir Chadash and the New Orleans community.

Emily Langowitz

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Emily Langowitz on February 8, 2015, in New York City, as part of the Meet Me at Sinai Oral History Project. Langowitz discusses her Jewish upbringing, her passion for Jewish learning, her experiences at Yale, her reflections on gender disparities in Judaism, and the influence of her renowned rabbi grandfather and Holocaust scholar grandfather on her spiritual journey.

Protesters holding signs outside Supreme Court on Day Roe v Wade was overturned
June 30, 2022

The Limits of Framing Abortion Rights as a Religious Issue

Savoy Curry

The right to abortion has deep roots across religions. But framing the fight for bodily autonomy as a religious issue has limits.

Topics: Reproductive Rights, Jewish History, Rabbis

Episode 74: A Half-Century of Women Rabbis

Collage of photos of Dianne Cohler-Esses, Sara Hurwitz, and Sandra Lawson

Episode 74: A Half-Century of Women Rabbis

Listen Now

Fifty years ago, Rabbi Sally Priesand made history by becoming the first woman rabbi in America. In this episode of Can We Talk?, women rabbis from three Jewish denominations reflect on the milestone. We speak with Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses, Rabba Sara Hurwitz, and Rabbi Sandra Lawson about the challenges they’ve faced, and about how their presence in the rabbinate is shaping the Jewish community. This is the final episode in our three-part anniversary series.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker Talks to Reporters
January 25, 2022

We Must Remember Who We Are as Jews—Even after Colleyville

Ruth Zakarin

Who gets to feel safe in Jewish spaces?

Topics: Antisemitism, Synagogues/Temples, Rabbis, Civil Rights
Sara Hurwitz 2018 Headshot

Sara Hurwitz

Sara Hurwitz was the first Orthodox woman to be publicly ordained and serve in an Orthodox synagogue, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She went on to co-found, with Rabbi Avi Weiss, Yeshivat Maharat, the first institution to provide a credentialed pathway for Orthodox women to be ordained and serve as rabbis.

A group of seven women standing at a bimah, posing underneath a banner with Hebrew writing

Yeshivat Maharat

Founded by Rabba Sara Hurwitz and Rabbi Avi Weiss, Yeshivat Maharat is the first Orthodox rabbinical school to ordain women. Building upon expanding education and ritual roles for Orthodox women in America that began in the late twentieth century, themselves outgrowths of American feminism, as of 2021 Yeshivat Maharat had graduated over forty women who powerfully impact Orthodox and wider Jewish communities all over the world.

Rabbi Cantor Angela Warnick Buchdahl

Angela Buchdahl

Angela Warnick Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi and cantor. She is the senior rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York and is a major leader in American Judaism’s continued work on diversity, equity, inclusion, and innovation.

Portrait of Lauren Tuchman smiling in front of a stained glass window wearing a maroon top and gold necklace

Lauren Tuchman

Lauren Tuchman, the first blind woman ordained as a rabbi, is best known for her championing inclusive Torah and disability justice. Though she is ordained in the Conservative movement, most of her work has been in community organizing and other non-congregational settings.

Sketch of Ray Frank, 1893
August 24, 2020

Ray Frank, A Complex Figure: Let’s Talk about Honesty and Self Care

Eleanor Harris

In March, my RVF piece about Ray Frank went up on the blog; however, parts of this blog post trouble me.

Topics: Women's Rights, Jewish History, Rabbis
Rabbi Michelle Dardashti

Rabbi Michelle Dardashti

Rabbi Michelle Dardashti currently serves as the Rabbi of Brown RISD Hillel and Associate University Chaplain for the Jewish Community at Brown.

Rabbi Sandra Lawson

Rabbi Sandra Lawson

Rabbi Sandra Lawson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in a military family. She graduated from Saint Leo University magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

Naamah Kelman and Rachel Cowan

Rachel Cowan, 1941 - 2018

Every inflection point in Rachel’s life became a source of mission and activism: as half of a young intermarried couple in the 1970s, she pushed for inclusivity in the Jewish community… When she became Jewish and then a rabbi (she was ordained in 1989 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion), she used her dual perspective as both outsider and insider to sense what was needed in the Jewish world.

Regina Persisted Book Cover
September 20, 2018

An Interview with Rabbi Sandy Sasso about Regina Jonas

Judith Rosenbaum

JWA Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Rabbi Sandy Sasso about her 2018 children’s book, about the world’s first woman rabbi. Watch their fascinating conversation here, and learn about Regina Jonas’s legacy and impact on Rabbi Sasso and the other women rabbis who followed in her footsteps.

Topics: Rabbis, Fiction
Stock Image of Cat with Cat Food
June 7, 2018

I'm Over It

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

I came to spend the rest of my afternoon hauling a case of cat food to the local housing project. I was glad to do it, though I didn’t know why the woman had reached out to our temple ... She was very happy to see me, but, in part due to the fact that I was wearing sneakers, I’m pretty sure she thought I was a well-meaning volunteer. When she did realize that I was, in fact, the rabbi, and not some emergency cat food delivery service, she got VERY EXCITED.

Topics: Rabbis, Spirituality and Religious Life
Stage with Microphone and Stool
May 23, 2018

Dear Male Comedian

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

I spend a lot of time trying to shift the focus away from my appearance, my love life, and my sexuality. By sizing me up in front of my entire community, you undid three years of that work in 30 seconds.

Topics: Feminism, Comedy, Rabbis
Rabbi Jennifer Singer
May 18, 2018

Faith and Feminism

Minnah Stein

Last year I met Rabbi Jennifer Singer, and I immediately looked up to her. She’s a strong, spiritual, and independent woman who commands the room with her lively personality. She’s an excellent rabbi, and I always leave her sermons with new ideas and ways of thinking. 

Topics: Feminism, Rabbis, Spirituality and Religious Life, Synagogues/Temples
Josie Rosman Trip Photo
May 16, 2018

Lessons from Rabbi Lauren

Josephine Rosman

All my life, I’ve been learning lessons both about the Torah and about how to live a fulfilling life from Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann at Kol Tzedek (my synagogue) in Philadelphia. From services and Torah school, to the time we spent together prepping for my bat mitzvah, Rabbi Lauren was the person who taught me how to look at Jewish texts in a new light, and turn them into something inspiring and relevant. She taught me about the concept of social justice, and how as Jews, we have a moral responsibility to make the world a better place. 

Topics: Community Organizing, Rabbis, Synagogues/Temples

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