MEET

Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz

My mission as an educator is to help people create meaningful lives and compelling learning experiences rooted in the Jewish story. My personal motto is “Teach Torah and Love My People.”

I am a Reform rabbi based in Philadelphia, PA. I currently teach for the Union for Reform Judaism’s Introduction to Judaism Program, Laasok: The Liberal Beit Midrash, Hillel at Temple University, and Gratz College. Every summer I serve as Faculty for the URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy.

I am passionate about the intersection of Judaism and creativity, which includes a love of traditional and modern midrash, fiction and memoir by Jewish authors, and representation of Jewish characters in fiction and film. No matter what part of the Jewish story we are engaging with, I encourage my students to look for “mirrors” (to see themselves), “windows” (to better understand the world around them), and “telescopes” (to seek out the sacred).

I love to write, and am best known (at least with kindergartners) as the author of three children's books: The World Needs Beautiful Things, Queen Vashti's Comfy Pants, and The Moving Box Sukkah, as well as the middle-grade midrash collection Maybe It Happened This Way: Bible Stories Reimagined (with co-author Erica Wovsaniker). I've also collaborated with the Reform movement on the creation of a number of prayer books and essay collections, including The Torah: A Women's Commentary, The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, and one of my favorite projects, Mishkan Ha-Nefesh for Youth.

I studied Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Journalism at Brandeis University, and earned a dual Master of Arts degree in Hebrew Literature and Religious Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. I am currently a Jewish Studio Project Fellow and Rukin Rabbinic Fellow with 18Doors (formerly Interfaith Family). I am also a proud Past President of the Women’s Rabbinic Network.