Elianna Yolkut
Elianna Yolkut was born Orthodox and is now an openly gay Conservative rabbi. Yolkut was ordained in 2006 by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, where she later served as an adjunct faculty member while serving as Assistant Rabbi at Adat Ari El in nearby Valley Village. She then served as the director of the Center for Jewish Life at Jewish Community Project Downtown. She’s now the part-time Rabbi in Residence of Lifelong Learning at Adas Israel Congregation and a community rabbi teaching and serving throughout the metro DC area. Rabbi Yolkut is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute North America. She completed the Rabbis Without Borders fellowship in 2012.
Rabbi Yolkut's teachings always inspire me. I'll admit her "deep dives" sometimes leave me in the dust (because of my limited study background), but she always remains accessible and uplifting.
Having been a congregant years ago, I found are probably the most thoughtful Rabbi I have dealt with. Open minded, scholarly, good hearted. These are rare qualities to come by in any one person.
And I say this as someone who is certainly not a close friend and whom, I doubt, she remembers all that clearly.