Alexandra Wright

Not to be confused with Alexsandra Wright.
Alexandra Wright
OccupationRabbi
Known forBritish Liberal rabbi

Alexandra Wright is a British Liberal rabbi who was appointed as the first female senior rabbi in England in 2004, as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London.[1] She is President of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom.[2]

Wright became the seventh woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United Kingdom in 1986; she was ordained at Leo Baeck College, and has taught classical Hebrew there.[3][4] She served as Associate Rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue from 1986 until 1989.[3] She then served as Rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 1989 until 2003.[3][5]

In 2010 she wrote an open letter to Rowan Williams, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking him to ordain women as bishops.[4]

She has contributed to two anthologies of women rabbis' essays and liturgies – Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel.[3] She is also the only woman whose sermon has been included in Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein's Jewish Preaching in Times of War.[6]

Personal life

She has two children, Gabrielle and Benedict.[6]

References

  1. ^ Axelrod, Tony (7 August 2009). "Women taking reins of Jewish communal life in Europe". Jewish Telegraph Agency. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Liberal Judaism elects Rabbi Alexandra Wright as its new president". The Jewish Chronicle. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "Our rabbis". Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  4. ^ a b Rocker, Simon (15 July 2010). "Ordain women, rabbi urges the Archbishop". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Our History". Radlett Reform Synagogue. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Rabbi Alexandra Wright". The Jewish Chronicle. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2022.