Assistant Rabbi Cohort
Rabbi Ilana Garber
Rabbi, Beth El Temple
igarber@bethelwh.org
Rabbi Ilana C. Garber spent nine years at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Talmud (2000), a master’s degree in Jewish education (2003), and rabbinic ordination (2005). She also received a bachelor’s degree in religion from Barnard College (2000). Rabbi Garber is the associate rabbi of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, Connecticut. She is a past participant in the STAR: Synagogue Transformation And Renewal PEER: Professional Education for Excellence in Rabbis program and in a rabbinic cohort of Advancing Women Professionals. She serves as co-chair of the Rabbinical Assembly Women’s Committee.
Rabbi Erin Glazer
Senior Engagement Officer, Mazon
Rabbi Erin Glazer graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Government and Politics and a minor in Jewish Studies. After college, she volunteered in Israel as a participant in Project OTZMA, a year-long leadership and community service program. She then worked in Washington, DC for three years, first at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and later in the Washington office of the National Council of Jewish Women. Following her social justice work in the nation’s capital, Rabbi Glazer returned to Israel to begin her rabbinical studies. After the first year in Jerusalem, Rabbi Glazer studied at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she received her Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 2008 and was ordained in 2009. Rabbi Glazer currently served as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, NJ where her responsibilities included teaching children and adults of all ages, officiating at lifecycle events, leading worship services, providing pastoral care, and engaging the congregation in meaningful social justice work. Currently, she works at the Senior Engagement Officer at Mazon in Washington D.C.
Rabbi Sari R. Laufer
Associate Rabbi, Congregation Rodeph Sholom
Rabbi Sari Laufer, a cum laude graduate of Northwestern University, was ordained in 2006 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Laufer was also selected for the PEER program through Synagogue Transformation and Renewal and was a member of the second cohort of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship. At HUC in Los Angeles, she was awarded several academic prizes in Talmud and rabbinic literature, as well as HUC-LA’s Outstanding Female Student Award. At Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Rabbi Laufer is a teacher of those young and young-at-heart, bringing her passion for social justice, rabbinic texts, and Judaism’s wisdom and relevance in the 21 century into the lives of those with whom she is privileged to learn and to share.
Rabbi Esther L. Lederman
Associate Rabbi, Temple Micah
rabbilederman@templemicah.org
Esther L. Lederman has been the Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah since 2009. Ordained from Hebrew Union College in 2008, she has served pulpits in Pennsylvania, at the University of Virginia, and for the United States Navy in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In her final two years in New York, she served as a rabbinic fellow at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun of Manhattan. Esther is very involved in the wider Jewish community. She serves on the advisory council of AVODAH in Washington, the Clergy Task Force to End Domestic Violence, a project of Jewish Women International, and serves on the national board of Ameinu, a national, progressive Zionist organization.
Rabbi Jessica L. Oleon
Rabbi, Temple Sinai, Washington, D.C.
Rabbi Jessica Oleon was ordained as a rabbi in 2007 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Los Angeles. She earned a BA in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002 and is a native of Oakland, California. Prior to coming to Washington DC, Rabbi Oleon served as student-rabbi at congregations in Los Angeles, Lubbock, Texas, and the U.S. military community in Okinawa, Japan. She was the Co-Director of Education at URJ Camp Newman throughout rabbinical school. Rabbi Oleon is actively involved in Just Congregations, the Reform Movement’s Congregation Based Community Organizing effort at Temple Sinai and on a national level. She is a member of the strategy team for the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) and a Religious Action Center (RAC) Brickner Fellow. She serves on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) and Jews United For Justice (JUFJ), and is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) Committee on Peace, Justice, and Civil Liberties.
Rabbi Annie Tucker
Rabbi, Beth Hillel Congregation B’nai Emunah
atucker@thejewishcenter.org
Rabbi Annie Tucker graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Psychology and Jewish Studies. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, she received a master’s degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001, continuing on in their rabbinical program where she was ordained in 2006 with a concentration in pastoral counseling. From 2006-2013, Rabbi Tucker served as Associate Rabbi of The Jewish Center in Princeton, NJ where she spear-headed the synagogue’s award-winning religious school change initiative, created a confirmation class community service trip to New Orleans, taught a popular weekly Torah study group for adults, and led women’s trip to Israel, Jewish Spain, and Eastern Europe. She also served as chaplain for the Greenwood House Hospice. Rabbi Tucker currently serves as spiritual leader of Beth Hillel Congregation B’nai Emunah in Wilmette, IL.