Deborah Brin (born October 8, 1953) is one of the first openly gay rabbis and one of the first hundred women rabbis. She is now the rabbi emerita of Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to her education from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Brin earned a B.A.in Religious Studies from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a master's degree in Pastoral Counseling from La Salle University in Philadelphia. She co-edited the poetry section for the Reconstructionist prayer book KOL HANESHAMAH: Shabbat Vehagim, and has written an article chronicling her experience leading the first women’s prayer service and Torah reading at the Western Wall for the book ''Women of the Wall'', as well as "The Use of Rituals in Grieving for a Miscarriage or Stillbirth", for the book ''From Menarche to Menopause: The Female Body in Feminist Therapy.'' On December 1, 1988, during the first International Jewish Feminist Conference in Jerusalem, 70 women carried a Torah scroll to the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

, and Brin led a prayer service for them. When the conference ended, a group of Jerusalem women continued to meet at the Kotel and formed

Women of the Wall Women of the Wall (Hebrew: נשות הכותל, ''Neshot HaKotel'') is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashi ...

to assert their right to pray there without hindrance. A 2013 dissertation from the University of New Mexico's department of anthropology, “Storied Lives in a Living Tradition: Women Rabbis and Jewish Community in 21st Century New Mexico,” by Dr. Miria Kano, discusses Brin and four other female rabbis of New Mexico. In 2014, Brin was named one of PinkNews’s top 11 Jewish gay and lesbian icons. In 2019, Rabbi Brin was highlighted in the book, Pride: The Story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement edited by Matthew Todd. Originally published in England, it was reprinted in 2020 in the US by Weldon Owen Publishing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brin, Deborah Living people 1953 births Macalester College alumni La Salle University alumni Reconstructionist Rabbinical College alumni American Reconstructionist rabbis Reconstructionist women rabbis Lesbian Jews LGBTQ rabbis LGBTQ people from New Mexico American lesbians Reconstructionist Jewish feminists 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American rabbis