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.
