MEET

Rabbi Lexie Botzum

Hi! I'm Lexie, a rabbi, Jewish educator, and writer based in Washington Heights, NY. I've devoted my adult life to Torah learning because I believe deeply in its project of intricate world-building--our text and tradition are rich and endless and ours, and hold the potential to not only lend meaning and connection to our individual lives, but structure entire communities and modalities of living.

I've studied Torah with the Yashrut halakha shiur, Yeshivat Hadar, the Conservative Yeshiva, and the Pardes Kollel, and am in my fourth year teaching for Yashrut's gemara program, where we offer classes combined with individualized tutoring. I write and teach for MyJewishLearning, as well as writing essays and divrei torah for Jewish Currents. I've also published a book of illustrated parsha poetry, Poem HaShavua, complete with the sources--pesukim, midrash, commentary, secular poetry, and more--that inspired each piece.

As a teacher, I'm interested both in building the skills necessary for people to gain greater ownership of their text and tradition, and delving deep into particular subjects that Torah examines, such as: How do we understand the practice and theology of obligation? How does horizontal human commitment and vertical divine obligation combine to construct just and functioning societies? What are non-colonial paradigms of relationship to land? What are the ethical and legal boundaries with regard to what communities it's worth participating in, and with whom we maintain deep relationship? How do we honor individual identity while understanding ourselves as inextricably bound up in relationship? How do we live in and make meaning through rupture? And more!