About the Faculty

Home » About the Faculty

Meet our Faculty

As a student, you will study with passionate scholars and teachers who help students cultivate a deep understanding of our Jewish legacy and powerful skills to serve the Jewish people as rabbis. RRC builds relationships of mentoring and collaboration that foster learning and growth in, and well beyond, the classroom.

Regular Faculty

Reena Sigman Friedman, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History

Rabbi Rayna Grossman

Director of Field Education

Rabbi Melissa Heller

Director of Admissions and Recruitment

Tamar Kamionkowski, Ph.D.

Professor of Biblical Studies

Sarra Lev, Ph.D.

Professor of Rabbinics

Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, Ph.D.

Teaching Fellow, Race, Culture, and Jewish Ethics

Rabbi William Plevan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Contemporary Thought

Rabbi Amber Powers

Executive Vice President of Reconstructing Judaism; practical rabbinics

Elsie R. Stern, Ph.D.

Professor of Bible

Rabbi Mira Beth Wasserman, Ph.D.

Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs; director of the Center for Jewish Ethics; Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D.

President and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism; American Jewish history, Reconstructionism

Rabbi Alex Weissman

Director of Community Life; Director of Mekhinah; Jewish text and practice

Cyd Weissman

Vice President for Engagement and Innovation at Reconstructing Judaism; Jewish education, entrepreneurship

Faculty Affiliates, Adjuncts and Emeriti

Rabbi Meryl Crean
Pastoral care

Rabbi Isabel de Koninck
Group dynamics and rabbinic leadership

Elliot Vaisrub Glassenberg 
Senior Educator at BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change; Israel studies

Rabbi Ilanit Goldberg-Gradess
Pastoral care

Joel Hecker, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Jewish Mysticism

Rabbi Linda Holtzman
Practical rabbinics; former Director of Student Life

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer  
Director of Virtual Content and Programs for Ritualwell; Jewish education

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies; former Director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives

Rabbi Sandra Lawson 
Director of Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Former Director of Social Justice Organizing Program

Rabbi Vivie Mayer
Jewish text and practice; former Director of Mekhinah

Hazzan Jessi Roemer
Liturgical arts

Rabbi Isaac Saposnik   
Executive Director of Havaya Summer Programs

Rabbi Lily Solochek
Director of the Wenger-Markowitz Family Education Initiative at Reconstructing Judaism

Laynie Soloman, M.A.
Jewish text and practice

Rabbi Jacob Staub, Ph.D.
Director of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations; Professor Emeritus of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality; Director, Jewish Spiritual Direction Program

Rabbi David A. Teutsch, Ph.D.
The Louis and Myra Wiener Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Jewish Civilization; Senior Consultant to Thriving Communities

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Practical rabbinics

Rabbi Micah Weiss 
Associate Director for Thriving Communities and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism


We’re proud to celebrate our faculty’s accomplishments outside the classroom

Congratulations to Professor Sarra Lev on the publication of  And the Sages Did Not Know: Early Rabbinic Approaches to Intersex (University of Pennsylvania, 2024)

Joel Hecker, Ph.D.
Professor Emertius
Winner, 2017 Canadian Jewish Literary Awards in the Scholarship category
The Zohar, Pritzker Edition, Volume Eleven (Stanford Press)

Tamar Kamionkowski, Ph.D.
Professor of Biblical Studies
Wisdom Commentary: Leviticus (Liturgical Press); Bodies, Embodiment and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (Bloomsbury Press); Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos: Studies in the Book of Ezekiel (Bloomsbury Press)



 

Teaching Methods

We understand that every student learns differently. Our faculty mindfully adapt their teaching styles to meet the learning needs of each individual student. Interactions between faculty and students occur:

  • In our beit midrash (study hall), where students and faculty engage with Judaism’s sacred texts through traditional Torah study and discussion
  • In our classrooms, where lectures and group discussion engage students in topics related to Jewish history, culture and the work of the rabbinate
  • In digital classrooms taught by RRC faculty and other leading scholars and professionals
  • In workshops and hands-on training, where students learn through experience
  • In fieldwork supervision, as students work to integrate the academic and experiential
  • One on one through independent studies

Optimal Student-Faculty Ratio

The College maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio, which promotes active learning and inspired teaching and allows for profound student-faculty interactions.

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

The Reconstructionist Network