Stacy Offner is an openly lesbian American rabbi.
[Alpert, R.T.]
Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition
Columbia University Press, 1998.[Rabbi Offner](_blank)
, Union for Reform Judaism website. Retrieved 2011-11-05. She was the first openly lesbian rabbi hired by a mainstream Jewish congregation, and the first female rabbi in Minnesota. She also became the first rabbi elected chaplain of the Minnesota Senate, the first female vice president of the
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms establishe ...
, and the first woman to serve on the
.S.national rabbinical pension board.
Biography
She graduated magna cum laude from
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...
and earned an M.A. in Hebrew literature from
Hebrew Union College
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 ...
in New York.
She also has an honorary degree from Hebrew Union College, where she was ordained in 1984.
That year she became the first female rabbi in Minnesota.
However, she was fired from her job as associate rabbi when she came out as a lesbian in 1987.
She left with some of her congregants and in 1988 they founded
Shir Tikvah, a Reform congregation in Minneapolis, where she was the first rabbi.
Thus in 1988, she became the first openly lesbian rabbi hired by a mainstream Jewish congregation (Shir Tikvah).
Stacy Offner remained at Shir Tikvah until 2008 when she became the first female vice president of the
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms establishe ...
, a position she held for two years.
She later served as a rabbi at Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
On July 11, 2012, she became the rabbi of Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, Connecticut. She stepped down from this position in June 2021.
Publications
Her writing has been featured in the journal of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the worl ...
(CCAR Journal).
See also
*
Timeline of women rabbis
This is a timeline of women rabbis.
* Pre-modern figures
** 1590–1670: Asenath Barzani is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars.
** 1805–1888 Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (the Maiden of Ludmir) was the only ...
References
External links
* Finding aid to th
Rabbi Stacy Offner papersat th
Upper Midwest Jewish Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Offner, Stacy
American Reform rabbis
American rabbis
Reform women rabbis
LGBT rabbis
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Kenyon College alumni
Hebrew Union College alumni
21st-century American Jews