Alexandra Wright
Alexandra Wright was appointed as the first female senior rabbi in England in 2004, as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London.[1] She is a significant figure within British Liberal Judaism.
Wright became the seventh woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United Kingdom in 1986; she was ordained at Leo Baeck College, and has taught classical Hebrew there.[2][3] She served as Associate Rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue from 1986 until 1989.[2] She then served as rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 1989 until 2003.[2][4]
In 2010 she wrote an open letter to Rowan Williams, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking him to ordain women as bishops.[3]
She has contributed to two anthologies of women rabbis' essays and liturgies – Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel.[2] She is also the only woman whose sermon has been included in Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein's Jewish Preaching in Times of War.[5]
Personal life
She has two children, Gabrielle and Benedict.[5]
References
- Axelrod, Tony (7 August 2009). "Women taking reins of Jewish communal life in Europe". Jewish Telegraph Agency. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
- "Our rabbis". Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
- Rocker, Simon (15 July 2010). "Ordain women, rabbi urges the Archbishop". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
- "Our History". Radlett Reform Synagogue. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- "Rabbi Alexandra Wright". The Jewish Chronicle. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2014.