Lynne Landsberg
Lynne Landsberg had focused her rabbinic career on fighting for social justice, but when a car accident left her disabled, that fight became far more personal. Landsberg earned a master’s degree in theology from Harvard Divinity School in 1976 and was ordained by Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1981. Seven years later, after serving as a congregational rabbi in New York and Virginia, she became associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC, where she crafted social justice initiatives for reproductive rights and race relations. In 1996 she began working as regional director for the mid-Atlantic region of the Union for Reform Judaism. In 1999, after a car accident left her with a traumatic brain injury, she returned to the Religious Action Center, where she became senior advisor on disability rights, ensuring that communities not only provide physical access to buildings and resources for deaf, blind, or cognitively impaired congregants, but also actively welcome disabled members. Landsberg also served as founder and co-chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ committee on disability awareness and inclusion, and co-founded the cross-denominational organization Hineinu: Jewish Community for People of All Abilities. Landsberg died of cancer on February 26, 2018.