Rabbi Professor https://www.thejc.com/community/leo-baeck-head-is-made-a-professor-y7wvozqt Deborah Kahn-Harris is the Principal of

Leo Baeck College Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner va ...

, a

rabbinical seminary A Jewish seminary, better known as a rabbinical seminary or rabbinical school, is a Jewish educational institution for the purpose of training rabbis. (In some cases, a "Jewish seminary" may also refer to a cantorial school.) While rabbis have been ...

and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education, based at the

Sternberg Centre The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, in East End Road, Finchley, London, is a campus hosting a number of Jewish institutions, built around the 18th-century Finchley manor house. It was founded to facilitate a number of Reform and Liberal Jewish ...

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

, in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...

. She was appointed to the post in September 2011. Kahn-Harris, a graduate of the college, is one of the first woman rabbis to lead a mainstream rabbinic seminary.

Early life and education

Kahn-Harris was brought up in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States. She has a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and a doctorate in biblical studies from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

Career

Kahn-Harris was one of the members of the rabbinic staff at Sha'arei Tsedek North London Reform Synagogue and a lecturer at Leo Baeck College before her appointment as the college's principal.

Personal life

She has both American and British citizenship and is married to the writer, lecturer, and music critic

Keith Kahn-Harris Keith Kahn-Harris is a sociologist and music critic. He is an honorary research fellow and senior lecturer at Birkbeck College, an associate fellow of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and a lecturer at Leo Baeck College. Khan-Harris wa ...

, with whom she has two children.

Publications

"Midrash for the Masses: The Uses (and Abuses) of the Term ‘Midrash’ in Contemporary Feminist Discourse" in ''Feminist Theology'', May 2013, vol. 21 no. 3, pp. 295-308"Weaning: Personal and Biblical Reflections" in Grushcow, Lisa J (ed): ''The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality'', Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2014''Polyamory and Reading the Book of Ruth'', Lexington Books 2023

References

External links

Leo Baeck College profile: Deborah Kahn-Harris

Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies: Deborah Kahn-Harris

Open University video interview: Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris, 2012Dresden lecture on Theodicy by Rabbi Deborah Kahn-Harris, Principal Leo Baeck College, London, European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ) Biennial, 27 May 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn-Harris, Deborah Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women 21st-century English rabbis Alumni of Leo Baeck College Alumni of the University of Sheffield British Reform rabbis Educators from Texas American women educators Mount Holyoke College alumni People associated with Leo Baeck College People from Houston Reform women rabbis