Alexandra Wright

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Alexandra Wright
OccupationRabbi
Known forBritish Liberal rabbi

Alexandra Wright is a British Liberal rabbi who was appointed as the first female senior rabbi in England in 2004, as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London. [1] She is President of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom. [2]

Contents

Wright became the seventh woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United Kingdom in 1986; she was ordained at Leo Baeck College, and has taught classical Hebrew there. [3] [4] She served as Associate Rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue from 1986 until 1989. [3] She then served as Rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 1989 until 2003. [3] [5]

In 2010 she wrote an open letter to Rowan Williams, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking him to ordain women as bishops. [4]

She has contributed to two anthologies of women rabbis' essays and liturgies – Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel. [3] She is also the only woman whose sermon has been included in Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein's Jewish Preaching in Times of War. [6]

Personal life

She has two children, Gabrielle and Benedict. [6]

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References

  1. Axelrod, Tony (7 August 2009). "Women taking reins of Jewish communal life in Europe". Jewish Telegraph Agency . Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  2. "Liberal Judaism elects Rabbi Alexandra Wright as its new president". The Jewish Chronicle . 25 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Our rabbis". Liberal Jewish Synagogue . Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  4. 1 2 Rocker, Simon (15 July 2010). "Ordain women, rabbi urges the Archbishop". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  5. "Our History". Radlett Reform Synagogue . Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Rabbi Alexandra Wright". The Jewish Chronicle . 1 May 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2022.