Rachel Isaacs

"The more rooted you are the greater the risks you can take.” - Rabbi Rachel Isaacs

This episode of Queer Spirit interviewed Rabbi Rachel Issacs and explored her journey from Hebrew school to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City to her ministry with her family in Maine. The discussion included segments on the rise of trans rights in Judaism and the important of the fact that the most traditional Jewish family in central Maine is queer.

Listen also on Spotify!

About

In 2014, a magazine ran a feature story with this intriguing title: “Fifteen American Rabbis You Haven’t Heard of, But Should.” Rabbi Rachel Isaacs is one of those unsung – or formerly unsung – fifteen. Happily, those of us in Maine know her and appreciate her ministry.

Rabbi Isaacs is the spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville and also faculty at Colby College, where she holds the Dorothy Levine Alfond chair in Jewish studies. Since 2015 she has also served as the director of Colby’s Center for Small Town Jewish Life.

Yet another article, entitled “What a Quiet Revolutionary Looks Like,” describes some of her life journey this way: “Rachel Isaacs knew by the age of 13 she wanted to be a rabbi. Awareness of her sexuality came later. ‘I came out to myself around 14,’ she has shared. ‘I started the Gay-Straight Alliance in high school.’ At college, ‘being gay was in no way noteworthy. Openly lesbian, . . . she was ready [to go on to] rabbinical school, [but] Conservative Judaism was not ready for her. Isaacs spent two years at Reform Judaism’s Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of religion and transferred to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York as soon as the school admitted openly gay and lesbian rabbinical students in 2007.” She was ordained by JTS in 2011.

Currently, Rachel lives in Waterville with her wife Melanie Weiss and their two daughters.