H EADLINES
Local Rabbi Honored by LGBT History Month
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
EVERY OCTOBER, in honor
of LGBT History Month, the
nonprofit Equality Forum
names 31 LGBT “icons” — one
for each day of the month. Th is
year, a local rabbi made the list.

Rabbi Deborah Waxman,
president of Reconstructing
Judaism and Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College in Wyncote,
will be honored as an icon on
Oct. 30. She is the fi rst woman
and fi rst lesbian to lead both
a major Jewish denomination
and a rabbinical seminary.

Although there
were women rabbis and gay rabbis
who came before her, she didn’t
have many role models when
she chose her path. She grew up
in the Conservative movement,
which did not start ordaining
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women rabbis until the ’80s.

However, the nurturing,
supportive environment
allowed her to imagine that
there would be space for her
in leadership, and she didn’t
think that being a woman
would disqualify her from
becoming a rabbi.

She eventually decided to
attend the Reconstructionist
seminary because she believed it
would help her become the best
rabbi and best human being she
could be. It also became a safe
space for her to come out later in
her 20s as she wrestled with her
sexuality. “If I hadn’t been in a commu-
nity that was really encouraging
me to bring my core self and to
develop fully, I might not only
have been in the closet, I might
have just kind of cut off the idea
of relationships,” she said.

She said her journey to
leadership was shaped by male
allies and mentors who helped
her grow.

“Advancement happens
because there are allies who
champion, and who open doors,
who don’t just say, ‘Oh, it would
be nice ...’ but actually extend
themselves to allow women, queer
people, people of color and people
with disabilities to rise up, who
mentor and create opportunities
and network on their behalf.”
One of her own mentors,
Rabbi David Teutsch, hired
her to do grant writing for her
rabbinical school when she was
still a student.

“I reached out to Deborah
because she’s a talented,
thoughtful person of great
creativity and insight, and it
would have been a loss to the
Jewish people and to the world
in general had we not brought
her into leadership,” he said.

She was ordained in 1999
and taught at RRC for several
years before assuming her role
as president of her organiza-
tions in 2014. Under Waxman’s
leadership, Reconstructing
Judaism has adopted a frame-
work of resilience in the face of
strong communal anxiety about
climate change, anti-Semitism,
politics and the pandemic.

“We really bring that under-
standing that Judaism writ large
is about resilience, that our
ancestors have faced catastrophe
again and again and they found
ways, both on the individual
and on the collective level, to
renew themselves,” she said.

Her podcast, “Hashivenu:
Jewish Teachings on Resilience,”
has addressed this topic for the
past three years and featured
conversations with Jewish leaders,
teachers and activists about resil-
ience in the Jewish tradition.

Rabbi Joshua Lesser, who
entered rabbinical school at
the same time as Waxman
and leads Congregation Bet
Haverim in Atlanta, said one
of her talents as a leader is
bringing people of diff erent
backgrounds together.

“Her ability to do that as
well as she does has created an
avenue for so many people, not
only people who are becoming
rabbis but Jews across the
board, who can see themselves
as part of a Jewish community
without necessarily having to
fi ght for it,” he said.

Waxman was honored and
humbled to be in the company
of this year’s icon lineup, which
includes actor and comedian
Kate McKinnon and fi rst out
federal judge Deborah Batts.

She said the poets on the list
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OCTOBER 29, 2020
Courtesy of Reconstructing Judaism
— Sappho, Emily Dickinson
and especially Mary Oliver —
had a strong infl uence on her.

“I would say that I consider
poetry a kind of liturgy. I
incorporate a lot of poetry
into when I lead services,” she
said. “Th ey helped me to create
space and to express my pain
and my hopes.”
Her favorite Oliver poem is
“When Death Comes.”
“It’s a primer in how to live
a life fully and beautifully and
open-heartedly,” she said. ●
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Rabbi Deborah Waxman
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