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Rabbis

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Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

Sharon Cohen Anisfeld has brought her passion for activism into her role as dean of the rabbinical school at Hebrew College, inspiring her students to blend both engagement with tradition and engagement with social justice.

Rachel Adler headshot

Rachel Adler

Rachel Adler has always challenged her religion from within, from her early days as a pioneer of the Jewish feminist movement to her later ordination as a rabbi.

Tina Grimberg

Tina Grimberg

Tina Grimberg has focused her rabbinic career on empowering women and fighting domestic violence.
Regina Jonas and Alina Treiger

Regina Jonas / Alina Treiger

German Rabbis

Leading the German-Jewish Community

Alina Treiger

Alina Treiger

As the first woman rabbi to be ordained in Germany since the Holocaust, Alina Treiger has cultivated the kind of progressive Judaism that had been the pride of German Jews before World War II.
Pauline Bebe

Pauline Bebe

The first woman rabbi in France, Pauline Bebe has worked to reach out to addicts, HIV-positive people, and others who often struggle to find an inclusive community.
Julia Neuberger

Julia Neuberger

Baroness Julia Neuberger holds an unusual double distinction as both a rabbi and a member of the House of Lords.
Jackie Tabick

Jackie Tabick

Jackie Tabick, Great Britain’s first female rabbi, also serves as Britain’s first female head of the Reform Beit Din, or religious court.
B'nai Jacob Synagogue
February 19, 2016

Come, Join Us

Hani Fish-Bieler

I remember my excitement upon hearing about Yeshivat Maharat’s  ordination of women. As a supporter of female Jewish leadership in all of its forms, I was thrilled at the idea. Evidently, Jessica Cavanagh-Melhado, a contributor to JWA’s blog, felt the same way. In June 2013, she wrote a piece entitled, We Begin to Become a Multitude. In the piece, she describes her experience attending the first ever ordination of women as open Orthodox female spiritual leaders. 

Topics: Jewish Law, Rabbis, Judaism-Conservative, Judaism-Orthodox
Claudia Kreiman cropped

Claudia Kreiman

As the rabbi for NOAM, the Masorti-Conservative Youth Organization in Israel, Claudia Kreiman modeled new ways for children to think about women’s participation in religion.
Miri Gold

Miri Gold

In a landmark case in 2012, Miri Gold became the first non-Orthodox rabbi to have her salary paid by the Israeli government.
Kinneret Shiryon cropped

Kinneret Shiryon

The first female congregational rabbi to serve in Israel, Kinneret Shiryon went on to establish Kehillat Yozma, the first non-Orthodox congregation to receive funding from the state.
Sharon Brous

Sharon Brous

Sharon Brous founded IKAR (essence), a community blending innovative spirituality and strong social justice values to reengage disaffected Jews.
Naomi Levy

Naomi Levy

After suffering tragedies in her own life, Naomi Levy used her skills as a rabbi and writer to give others the tools to move on.
Denise Eger cropped

Denise Eger

In 2015, Denise Eger became the first openly gay president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the professional organization for Reform rabbis.
Gesa Ederberg cropped

Gesa Ederberg

The first woman rabbi to serve in Berlin since Regina Jonas, Gesa Ederberg has played an essential role in restoring Jewish life in Germany.
Jill Jacobs cropped

Jill Jacobs

Jill Jacobs, the executive director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, has pushed for Jews to take an active role in social justice, from supporting health care and environmental reform to condemning torture and human rights violations.
Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

As dean of Hebrew College, Sharon Cohen Anisfeld has struck a rare balance between overseeing the seminary as a whole and connecting with each of her students on a personal level.
Jill Hammer

Jill Hammer

Jill Hammer co-founded the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute to offer women alternative ways of connecting with Jewish tradition by focusing on the sacredness of the body and the earth.
Jacqueline Ellenson

Jacqueline Koch Ellenson

A rabbi and community leader, Jacqueline Koch Ellenson has balanced her concern for both Israeli and American women as chair of the Hadassah Foundation and director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network.

Toba Spitzer

Toba Spitzer became the first openly gay head of a rabbinic organization in 2007 when she became president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

Deborah Brin

Deborah Brin, one of the first openly gay rabbis, led the first prayer service for Women of the Wall at the Conference for the Empowerment of Jewish Women in 1988.
Ray Frank Litman, 1923, Cropped
September 30, 2015

Icons for the New Year: Ray Frank

Tara Metal

While seeking stories of transformation this holiday season, most of the tales that have caught my attention involved women who exchanged quiet domestic lives for active involvement in the public sphere. Ray Frank did the opposite: she swapped her life as a trailblazing Jewish leader for one away from the spotlight.

Topics: Yom Kippur, Rabbis, Spirituality and Religious Life
Deborah Waxman, 2013

Deborah Waxman

In 2014, Rabbi Deborah Waxman became the first woman (and first lesbian) to simultaneously lead both a seminary and a congregational organization as head of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Jewish Reconstructionist Communities.

Jane Evans

Although she never became a rabbi, Jane Evans, Executive Director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, became a powerful voice for women’s ordination within the Reform Movement.

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