Helen Bar-Yaacov

Helen Bar-Yaacov
Personal life
Born
Uzbekistan
Religious life
ReligionJudaism

Helen Bar-Yaacov (born 1945 or 1946) is an Uzbekistani-born American rabbi.

Early life and education

Bar-Yaacov was born in Uzbekistan, since her parents had fled Poland during World War II to escape the persecution of the Jews there.[1]

She grew up in Germany and Australia, and lived in Israel as a young woman, working as a tour guide and a teacher there.[2] She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2002.[3]

Career

She is the first ordained female rabbi in West Virginia (though there had been female student rabbis serving before being ordained previous to Bar-Yaacov's service.)[4] She began serving in West Virginia in 2002 at Temple Israel in Charleston.

From 2008 until 2013 she was the rabbi of Evansville's Temple Adath B'nai Israel.[5]

References

  1. ^ A journey of celebration Courier Press, retrieved August 23, 2008
  2. ^ "Temple B'nai Adath Israel Official Site". Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
  3. ^ A Symposium: "Women and Leadership" Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine West Virginia University at Parkersburg, retrieved April 26, 2006
  4. ^ Smith, Charlotte Ferrell (2002-08-09). "Calling brings female rabbi to state: Bar-Yaakov first woman to lead W.Va. synagogue". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.
  5. ^ "Evansville's Temple Adath B'nai Israel searching for new rabbi". Courier Press. June 22, 2012.