Deborah Waxman

Deborah Waxman is an American rabbi and the president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities.[1][3][4][5] Waxman was inaugurated as the president of both on October 26, 2014.[1] The ceremony took place at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.[1] Waxman is believed to be the first woman rabbi and first lesbian to lead a Jewish congregational union, and the first lesbian to lead a Jewish seminary; the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is both a congregational union and a seminary.[4][6] She previously served as the vice-president for governance for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.[5] In 2015 she was named as one of The Forward 50.[7]

Deborah Waxman
Deborah Waxman, the president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities; she was inaugurated as president of both on October 26, 2014[1]
Born
West Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.[2]
NationalityUnited States
EducationPhD in American Jewish History

M.A. in Hebrew Letters

B.A. in Religion
Alma mater
OccupationPresident, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Years active2014–present

Scholarship

Waxman has focused her scholarly work on American Jewish history. She is a member of the Academic Council of the American Jewish Historical Society.[8] Her topics of research include American Jewish history, Jewish identity and peoplehood, women in American Judaism, and Mordecai Kaplan. She has published articles in academic and Jewish journals and presented at conferences.

As an undergraduate religion major at Columbia College, Waxman began her religious scholarship. She earned a Master of Hebrew Letters from and was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1999. She completed a PhD in American Jewish History at Temple University.[9] She also earned a certificate in Jewish Women's Studies from RRC in conjunction with Temple University.[10]

Selected publications

Selected Presentations
  • Panel participant. Mordecai M. Kaplan Reconsidered: The Meaning and Significance of His Legacy for Our Time (2013) at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference[11]
  • Panel participant. Reconstructing Religious Authority in a Democratic Context: Early Reconstructionist Approaches and their Contemporary Resonances (2011) at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference[12]
  • Cultural Production: The Challenge of Implementing Reconstructionism (2010) at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference[13]
  • Jewish Peoplehood and Rugged Individualism: Creating a 'We-Feeling' for American Jews (2008) keynote address at the Super Sunday of Jewish Learning[14]

Reconstructionist Movement Leadership

Administrator and Strategic Planner

Waxman has held a leadership role in the Reconstructionist movement since 2003, when she became the Vice President for Governance of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC).[15]

From 2006 to 2008 RRC undertook a strategic planning process to serve as a 5-year guide for the organization.[16] Waxman was central in the strategic plan's development. The "Key Issues" addressed by the plan included: demographics of the Jewish community, image and influence, and the educational program.[16] Regarding the plan, Waxman stated:

a Reconstructionist perspective is crucial. Everything we do is informed by the values and ideas of Mordecai M. Kaplan, other members of the "founding" generation, those who came after them, and contemporary Reconstructionist thinkers. That is why developing influential and innovative resources that will let us share those values and ideas with the world is one of the Strategic Plan's highest priorities.[16]

In the "Making Change Happen" section of the plan Waxman explained that the ideas the strategic planning committee considered "most potent" include "the expansiveness and creativity inherent in Kaplan's definition of Judaism as the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people [and] the sense of both empowerment and responsibility embedded in that concept and in the ensuing mandate that every generation of Jews must reconstruct Judaism for its own time." About the committee's motivation, Waxman said:

We do all this because we know that if we are successful, our graduates will become change agents capable of transmitting RRC's approach to Judaism and religious life, and ultimately making the world a better place. They will foster individual growth and transform institutions, whether they work in synagogues, colleges and universities; hospitals or Jewish communal organizations; or in settings neither we nor they can imagine... Our ultimate goal is transformation writ large—the personal, religious and social transformation of all humanity.[16]

During the fourth year of the five-year plan (2012) the Reconstructionist movement as a whole underwent a restructuring. At that point the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (JRF)--the union of Reconstructionist congregations—and RRC became one organization and RRC then became the "primary national organization" of the Reconstructionist movement,[17] under the leadership of RRC President Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz. Ehrenkrantz explained "our congregations voted to restructure, closing the doors of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (JRF) and bringing together most movement activities under one roof at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC).[18]

On October 9, 2013, that more broadly structured RRC named Deborah Waxman as its next president, the first to be appointed to lead the new RRC organization.[19] She is believed to be the first woman rabbi to head a joint Jewish congregational union and Jewish seminary.[15] Before she began her presidency on January 1st, 2014, Waxman was "working on completing the merged organization's first-ever strategic plan. ... Waxman said the organization's goal is to further engage people involved in Reconstructionist Judaism and to provide an avenue into Jewish life — be it cultural, religious or activist — for anyone who is searching. In the wider American landscape, she views Reconstructionism as a strong voice for a progressive religion that is deeply engaged in social-justice issues."[19]

In addition to her experience in strategic planning, Waxman has written grant proposals that have won support from funders such as the Kresge Foundation, Wexner Foundation and Cummings Foundation and has stewarded major RRC donors.[15]

Pulpit Rabbi

Waxman served as High Holy Days rabbi at Congregation Bet Havarim in Syracuse, NY for 11 years.[20]

Personal life

Waxman was born and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut. She has two siblings. She was raised a Conservative Jew and was one of the first girls in Connecticut to have a Conservative Bat Mitzvah on a Saturday morning (in 1979). Her father was a traveling salesman and her mother was president of the sisterhood of their synagogue in Bloomfield, Connecticut.[2]

Waxman lives in Elkins Park, in suburban Philadelphia with her partner, Christina Ager, a Jew by choice.[9][2]

Further reading

PhD Dissertation Ethnicity and Faith in American Judaism: Reconstructionism as Ideology and Institution, 1935–1959

See also

References
  1. "Waxman Inaugurated as Head of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College". Jewish Exponent.
  2. Cohen, Anne (9 October 2013). "Trailblazing Reconstructionist Deborah Waxman Relishes Challenges of Judaism". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  3. "Video and Audio". RRC. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  4. "Reconstructionists Pick First Woman, Lesbian As Denominational Leader – The Jewish Week". The Jewish Week. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  5. "Trailblazing Reconstructionist Deborah Waxman Relishes Challenges of Judaism". The Jewish Daily Forward. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-11-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Eisner, Jane (2015-11-07). "Forward 50 2015". Forward.com. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  8. "Current Members of the Academic Council, American Jewish Historical Society". American Jewish Historical Society. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  9. Schwartzman, Bryan (10 October 2013). "Change of Top Leadership at Recon Movement". Jewish Exponent. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  10. rebgoldie. "Expanded Clergy Skills Being Cultivated at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College". The Philadelphia Jewish Voice. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  11. "45th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies". Association for Jewish Studies. p. 61. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  12. "Resource Guide to the 2011 AJS Conference". p. 9. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  13. "Association for Jewish Studies 42nd Annual Conference" (PDF). Association for Jewish Studies. p. 78. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  14. Sherwin, Mike (13 February 2008). "Peoplehood is vital concept for Jewish identity, says visiting scholar". St. Louis Jewish Light. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  15. "Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: Rabbi Deborah Waxman, PhD". Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  16. "Creating Change: A Vision for RRC's Future (Strategic Plan, 2008–2013)" (PDF). Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  17. "Important Notice | Jewish Reconstructionist Movement Archive". Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  18. Dan, Ehrenkrantz (December 2012). "A Changing Landscape". eJewish Philanthropy. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  19. Schwartzman, Bryan (10 October 2013). "Change of Top Leadership at Recon Movement". Jewish Exponent. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  20. Cohen, Anne (9 October 2013). "Trailblazing Reconstructionist Deborah Waxman Relishes Challenges of Judaism". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
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