Denise Eger

Denise Eger

Denise L. Eger is an American Reform rabbi.

She was ordained in 1988 at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College,[1] following which she served as rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim in Los Angeles, the world's first gay and lesbian synagogue.[2] In 1992, she and 35 people founded Congregation Kol Ami, a synagogue intended to serve both gay and non-gay Jews in West Hollywood, California.

Eger completed her undergraduate degree in Religion at the University of Southern California a. She grew up in Memphis, TN.

In 2008 Rabbi Eger was named one of the Forward 50; one of the fifty most influential Jews in North America for her work in GLBT rights. In the summer of 2010 she was named one of the fifty most influential women Rabbis.

Rabbi Eger had the privilege of officiating at the first legal wedding in Los Angeles County between two women, activist Robin Tyler and Diane Olson on June 16, 2008.

She previously served as the chair of the Search Alliance Institutional Review Board; Treasurer of the Women's Rabbinic Network and is a past president of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. She chaired the Gay and Lesbian Rabbinic Network of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and is past chair of the Task Force on Gays and Lesbians in the Rabbinate. She is a founding member of the Religion and Faith Council of the Human Rights Campaign and a founding executive committee member of California Faith for Equality California Faith for Equality.

Eger has worked extensively with people with HIV/AIDS and is widely known as an expert on Judaism and GLBT civil rights. She is a noted author contributing to anthologies such as Torah Queeries, Lesbian Rabbis, Twice Blessed, and Conflicting Visions:Contemporary Debates in Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Eger has won numerous awards for her activism including the Morris Kight Lifetime Achievement Award from Christopher Street West/LA Pride.

In 2009, she became the first female and the first openly gay President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.[2] She was also the founding President of the Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Interfaith Clergy Association.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.boardofrabbis.org/Rabbi-Denise-Eger
  2. ^ a b Fax, Julie Gruenbaum (May 6, 2009). "Glass Ceiling Twice Shattered at Board of Rabbis". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. http://www.jewishjournal.com/community/article/glass_ceiling_twice_shatteredat_board_of_rabbis_20090506/. 


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