Rabbi Jessica Kirschner

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner (she/her) is the executive director of Hillel at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA. She has deep roots in URJ-affiliated synagogues, summer camps, and youth organizations. A graduate of UC Berkeley and HUC-JIR, she served as a congregational rabbi in Washington, D.C. and as a community organizer and leader of RAC-CA for the Religious Action Center. She and her husband have two daughters, who are very excited to be third-generation campers at URJ Camp Newman.

an image of three gears connected, one says ethics, one says honesty and the other one says integrity
P'kudei

Working for the World: Public Servants

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Jessica Kirschner
This week's Torah portion, while on its surface largely a reiteration of details of the construction of the Mishkan, is a tribute to public servants like these - -people who honor our trust by performing their jobs with care, transparency, and fear of God.
Photo of small blocks, one with a question mark on it, the others with arrows, representing a fork in the road; background is half blue and half yellow
T'tzaveh

Pursuing Holiness

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Jessica Kirschner
This week's Torah portion, T'tzaveh, speaks to both the beauty and the limits of the priestly framework. This portion is all about kohanim (priests), their tasks, their robes, and their consecration.
Photo of a man building a house; using a hammer to nail two studs together
T'rumah

Who Was the Mishkan Meant For?

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Jessica Kirschner
The parallels between God's creation in B'reshit and the Israelite's work of creation in T'rumah is a beautiful example of how our work in the world is meant to mirror God's.
Mountain climbers helping each other reach the summit
Mishpatim

Extending Ourselves for Our Communities

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Jessica Kirschner
This week's parashah, Mishpatim, is about law on a much more human scale. It's the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the articles and amendments of the Constitution - a vision statement versus a roadmap.
Photo of a road with hills on one side and water on the other; with the sun setting in the background
B'shalach

A Matter of Perspective

D'Var Torah By: Rabbi Jessica Kirschner
In B'shalach, the Israelites have a dizzying series of peak experiences in a very short period of time. Some of the events in this portion are so significant that we continue to mark them to this day.