Julie Schwartz is an American

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. She was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and, in 1986, she became the first woman to serve as an active-duty Jewish

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

in the U.S. Navy, the very same year she was ordained by the

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. She counseled patients at the naval hospital in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and after a three-year tour of duty she returned to Cincinnati and held assorted jobs at HUC-JIR. Eventually she became the third rabbi to be certified as a Clinical Pastoral Educator by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Educators, after which she founded HUC-JIR's course of study in pastoral counseling for rabbinical students. In 1999, she became the first rabbi of B'nai Israel, the south side's first Jewish congregation in Fayette County, Georgia; they had previously been served by rabbinical students. In 2011, she returned to HUC-JIR to head the pastoral care and counseling program she founded. The art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, which opened in February 2022 at the Heller Museum and the Skirball Museum, featured 24 Jewish women artists, who had each created an artwork about a female rabbi who was a first in some way. Emily Bowen Cohen created the artwork about Schwartz.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people United States Navy chaplains Jewish chaplains American Reform rabbis Female United States Navy officers Reform women rabbis Rabbis from Ohio Religious leaders from Cincinnati 21st-century American women 21st-century American rabbis {{US-rabbi-stub