Tina Grimberg
Denied the opportunity to explore her Jewish heritage as a child in Soviet Ukraine, Tina Grimberg has used her career in the rabbinate to ensure inclusivity in the Jewish community. Born in Soviet Ukraine, Grimberg immigrated with her family to America at age sixteen and began protesting for the freedom of refuseniks still trapped in the USSR. She also became deeply involved in the local Jewish community in Indianapolis, eventually enrolling in rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. While studying there, she facilitated workshops for interfaith couples at the 92nd Street Y and the JCC in New York City. In 2002, a year after her ordination, she became the rabbi of Congregation Darchei Noam in Toronto, where she still serves as of 2016. Grimberg, who trained as a family therapist specializing in domestic violence issues before becoming a rabbi, has continued her work to end violence against women with a year-long campaign in 2006 in partnership with the Jewish Family & Child Service of Toronto and Jewish Women International of Canada. She has also been active in interfaith dialogue with Toronto’s Muslim community and has held vigils and protests for poverty law reform in Ontario.