“If the concept of G-d has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer and more loving.”
— James Baldwin
Louisa Rachel Solomon is building an antiauthoritarian rabbinate to serve liberation movements and marginalized Jewish communities, and help shepherd a Judaism that will outlive Zionism. She lovingly credits Rabbi Benay Lappe with inspiring these aspirations 20 years ago. Louisa is a proud member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council and was lucky to receive mentorship from elders in Jews Against the Occupation-NYC and the International Solidarity Movement when she was young. Before school, Louisa was the lead singer of The Shondes, with whom she toured internationally and released five albums. Her political and creative work is anchored and inspired by community, yirat Hashem (awe of G-d) and Torah.
הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ בַּֽחַיִּים
“I call heaven and earth to witness you today: I put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.”
— Deuteronomy 30:19
Louisa co-founded Jewish Liberation Learning NYC, a radical intergenerational community rooted in intersectional anti-oppression values. JLL’s Hebrew school was immediately over-enrolled, and they are excited to expand. Louisa is committed to making our tradition accessible to all, especially those who have endured harm in Jewish spaces due to structural oppression and coercion. She honors queer/trans experience as a profound theological resource and believes in a G-d who helps us protect life and resist objectification and extractionism.
“By its very nature, the Eternal You cannot become an It.”
— Martin Buber
Louisa served as The New School’s first student rabbi and was moved to glimpse olam haba (the world that is coming) at their Gaza solidarity encampment. Her chaplaincy at Mount Sinai was another highlight of her training, thanks to Rabbi Jo Hirschman. She is deeply grateful to the mentors who inspired her devotion to ethical close reading, a practice that serves her well. Louisa also loves officiating simchas, especially non-circumcising brises and non-state weddings.
אָסֻֽרָה־נָּא וְאֶרְאֶה אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶ֥ה הַגָּדֹ֖ל הַזֶּ֑ה
“I must turn aside so I can see this amazing sight.”
— Exodus 3:3
Louisa makes home in the Catskills and New York City (Lenapehoking) with her brilliant kinderlekh Rosie Sher and Reuben Ziv/ia, and her bashert Miller Wolf. She is the proud descendent of Yiddish-speaking secularists, Abraham Lincoln Brigade fighters, SNCC members and public school teachers. Louisa’s beloved grandparents, Moishe and Millie Solomon (z”l), supported her staunchly despite their einikel’s bewildering priorities: direct action, punk rock and the rabbinate. Amid rising fascism, Louisa is comforted by the certainty that they would be kvelling today.
“Being human means throwing your whole life on the scales of destiny when need be, all the while rejoicing in every sunny day and every beautiful cloud.”
— Rosa Luxemburg
“I believe that we will win.”
— Rabbi May Ye
