Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah (also known as Rabbi Elli Sarah) is a British rabbi and author. Sarah graduated from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

in 1977 and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 1989. Sarah (who took her middle name as her surname) and Rabbi Sheila Shulman were the first openly lesbian graduates of the

Leo Baeck College Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner van ...

. Sarah was also one of the first ten female rabbis ordained in Britain. Sarah worked as a full-time congregational rabbi for Buckhurst Hill Reform Synagogue, 1989–94, as Director of Programmes for the

Reform Synagogues of Great Britain Reform Judaism (formally the Movement for Reform Judaism and known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain until 2005) is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relatively ...

and Deputy Director of the

Sternberg Centre The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, in East End Road, Finchley, London, is a campus hosting a number of Jewish institutions, built around the 18th-century Finchley manor house. It was founded to facilitate a number of Reform and Liberal Jewish ...

, 1994–97, and as a freelance rabbi, including a part-time congregational appointment for the Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation, 1998–2000. Sarah has edited five books, written the book ''Trouble-Making Judaism'', and contributed to several journals and anthologies, including writing Chapter 5, "Being a Lesbian Rabbi", in ''Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation'', by

Rebecca Alpert Rabbi Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert (born April 12, 1950) is Professor of Religion Emerita at Temple University, and was one of the first women rabbis. Her chief academic interests are religions and sports and sexuality in Judaism, and she says that ...

, Sue Levi Elwell and Shirley Idelson (

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University. History Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...

, 2001).

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarah, Elizabeth Tikvah Living people 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers Alumni of Leo Baeck College Alumni of the London School of Economics British Liberal rabbis Jewish women writers Jewish British writers British lesbian writers LGBT rabbis British LGBT writers Women rabbis Year of birth missing (living people) Lesbian Jews