Elyse Goldstein

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein believes she comes from a family of women rabbis—but officially she is the first. She credits her Jewish passion to her mother, Terry Goldstein, who was national director of the Reform youth movement NFTY for over 20 years. Elyse grew up surrounded by rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators who urged her to forge ahead into the rabbinate. She followed her dream into Jewish studies at Brandeis, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1978 before taking a year off to study traditional texts in Jerusalem. In 1983, she was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Her teaching focuses on opening up the world of sacred literature, especially to those who have never felt that sense of ownership. From her student pulpit, Temple Beth Or of the Deaf, she began to identify deeply with those on the margins. She will never forget the joy and wonder of her deaf congregants as they discovered a Judaism they could hold in their hands.

As assistant rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto from 1983–86 and solo rabbi at Temple Beth David in Canton, Massachusetts, she introduced new programs and learning opportunities, including the first feminist study group at Holy Blossom and an interfaith women’s clergy group at Beth David.

But in 1991, Canada beckoned her “home” with an offer she simply could not refuse. The Reform movement had the vision to start a new adult education center that would welcome all into the study of Judaism, a place that could “turn on” Jewish young people and reconnect those drifting away, where those already affiliated would deepen their knowledge and commitment. Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning was conceived, and she was invited to nurture and sustain it. Kolel now celebrates its Bar/Bat Mitzvah year.

As Kolel’s Board of Directors and student body grew more interdenominational and pluralistic, Elyse shepherded Kolel through the process of becoming an independent communal organization. Now recognized as Canada’s leading pluralistic Jewish education center, Kolel enjoys the support and respect of the entire Jewish community and has served as a model for other adult education programs throughout North America and Israel.

Elyse is the author of ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens and Seek Her Out: A Textual Approach to the Study of Women and Judaism, as well as the editor of The Women’s Torah Commentary and The Women’s Haftarah Commentary. She will forever remember the six

months that she, her husband Baruch, and sons Noam, Carmi, and Micah recently took to travel together around the world. And she is proud of becoming a Canadian citizen the same month as the Covenant Awards ceremony.