Barbara Penzner
Barbara Penzner brings her passion for social justice wherever she goes, inspiring her congregations and those around her. After her ordination by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Penzner began to serve as rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Subsequently, she became president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. She was a founder and board member at Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Mikveh and Education Center in Newton and is a leader within the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. Penzner is currently co-chair of the New England Jewish Labor Committee, is on the Jewish Community Relations Council as a representative of the Jewish Labor Committee, leads the annual Jewish Labor Seder, and is a member of the Faith Working Group of the Alliance for Fair Food. She has served as an American Jewish World Service Global Justice fellow and is currently a Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) mentor. Penzner was named a Rabbinic Human Rights Hero by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Voice for Human Rights, for her work on behalf of the Hyatt 100. She was awarded the Warren B. Kohn Award for Excellence in Jewish Communal Service by the JCRC of Greater Boston.
I love that concept--that opening the aron kodesh is opening our hearts.