Rabbi Sharon Stiefel

Shir Tikvah's Board of Trustees is pleased to recommend Rabbi Sharon Stiefel for your consideration as Shir Tikvah's Interim Rabbi starting July 14, 2008. The Board invites you to meet Rabbi Stiefel and vote your approval of her as our Interim Rabbi at a special meeting on Thursday, June 26, 7:00 p.m. at Shir Tikvah.

The Search Committee has been working diligently to find the right candidate to serve as Interim Rabbi —and we believe we have succeeded. Several candidates were interviewed in recent weeks, and ultimately Rabbi Sharon S tiefel stood out as the top candidate for the position. The Search Committee has been inspired by Rabbi Stiefel’s warmth, her profound understanding of the rabbinic transition and its impact on congregants, and her appreciation for Shir Tikvah's values and accomplishments. Rabbi Stiefel was "right in our own back yard" in Minneapolis, and she actually has been a member of Shir Tikvah.

Rabbi Stiefel is currently the Associate Director at Hillel, the Jewish Student Center at the University of Minnesota, where she serves as c ampus Rabbi and Judaic resource, conducts High Holiday services for campus and community, and supervises students in conducting Shabbat services and other Jewish life and holiday events. She also develops and implements programs to increase student awareness of Judaism, identity, and affiliation, targeting issues such as interfaith dating, Jewish feminism, children of one Jewish parent, GLBT concerns and disenfranchisement from the Jewish community. Prior to her work at the University of Minnesota, Rabbi Stiefel held similar positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Grinnell College, and served as Visiting Rabbi at Congregation B'nai Israel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and as Rabbi for Congregation B’nai Shalom in Piscataway, New Jersey. She was also an Eisendrath fellow at the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C.

Rabbi Stiefel has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and received her Rabbinic Ordination and MA in Hebrew Letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. She also holds a B.A. in Sociology, magna cum laude, from Pomona College in Claremont California. She was given the Breaking the Silence Award in 2005 for confronting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity at the University of Minnesota, And in 1993, the International Hillel Center gave her its Best Sermon award.

The Shir Tikvah Board of Trustees enthusiastically embraces the Search Committee's recommendation of Rabbi Stiefel. We hope you will take the opportunity to meet Rabbi Stiefel and approve her appointment on June 26 at 7:00 p.m. Rabbi Stiefel will lead a D'var Torah and meet informally with the congregation.

June 6th, 2008