Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.  She serves as a spiritual director, peace and justice educator, and teacher of Mussar (a classical Jewish system of spiritual development).  She recently served as the Coordinator of Jewish Engagement for Faith in Action Bay Area, a multi-faith, multi-racial social justice organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to that, she directed the Pardes Rodef Shalom (Pursuer of Peace) Communities Program, teaching Jewish civil discourse to rabbis, synagogues and Jewish organizations.  She currently serves as Chair of the Racial Justice Subcommittee of the Conservative Movement's Social Justice Commission and Chair of Congregation Etz Chayim's Anti-Racism Impact Team.  Her book, From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace, was published by Orbis Books in March 2014. She received her Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in 2016. 

 

Previously, Rabbi Eilberg helped found the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, where she directed the Center’s Jewish Hospice Care Program, and served as Founding Co-Director of the Yedidya Center for Jewish Spiritual Direction. Nationally known for her work in Jewish healing, spiritual direction, and peacebuilding, she lectures and writes on issues of spiritual direction, spiritual practice, and the pursuit of peace and justice.

 

Rabbi Eilberg has taught at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA, and has directed interfaith dialog programs for the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning in St. Paul, MN. She travels widely, teaching the art of listening, dialogue and conflict engagement, and pursuing justice in venues throughout the country.  In recent years, Rabbi Eilberg has been honored with awards from the Rabbinical Assembly, the New Israel Fund, and Tru'ah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. 

 

In her book, From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace, published by Orbis Books in March 2014, Rabbi Eilberg blends ancient Jewish sacred texts on peacebuilding, real life descriptions of conflict engagement—interpersonal, interreligious, intra-communal, and international—and contemporary conflict theory. The interweaving of personal story, sacred text, and theory demonstrates how relationships can move from estrangement and wounding, entrenched bigotry and fear, to positive, engaged encounter. What emerges is a portrait of peacemaking as a spiritual practice that can guide the lives of faithful people seeking peace in their lives and in the world. The book concludes with practical disciplines to cultivate the qualities of soul essential to the art of pursuing peace.

 

Rabbi Eilberg is married to Dr. Louis Newman and is the proud mother of three adult children (and their partners), and the joyful grandmother of three beautiful grandchildren.

 

Contact Rabbi Eilberg