Rabbi Laura Geller

Rabbi Laura Geller is the senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, CA. She was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1976, the third woman in the Reform Movement to become a rabbi. Rabbi Geller has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including being named one of Newsweek’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America for two years in a row and receiving the California State Legislature’s Woman of the Year Award.

Torrah and Kippah
Nitzavim

The Tension Between Hubris and Humility

D'Var Torah By: Cantor Elizabeth Sacks
In its brief 40 verses, Parashat Nitzavim immediately presents us with tensions between confidence and condemnation, promise and punishment, and ultimately, between humility and hubris. Throughout the text of these two compact chapters—Deuteronomy 29 and 30—Moses consistently oscillates between inspiring the Israelites toward their future and forewarning them about their inherent (and perhaps inevitable) flaws.

The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate

Rabbi Laura Geller
At almost 750 pages long, it’s is a very big book, one that contains 66 essays and personal reflections. The length isn’t a surprise, actually, when you realize that the scope of the book spans four decades of women in the rabbinate: 40 years, the amount of time it took our Israelite ancestors to reach the Promised Land.
Yom Kippur

Do You 10Q?

Rabbi Laura Geller

Last year at this season, something surprising appeared in my inbox. It was a response to a challenge:

“Describe a significant experience that has happened in the past year. How did it affect you? Are you grateful? Relieved? Resentful? Inspired?”

I shouldn