Gesa Ederberg (born 1968 in

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, Germany) is a German

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

; she became the first female pulpit rabbi in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2007 when she became the rabbi of the

New Synagogue, Berlin The New Synagogue () on Oranienburger Straße in Berlin is a mid-19th century synagogue built as the main place of worship for the city's Jewish community, succeeding the Old Synagogue which the community outgrew. Because of its Moorish style ...

(Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue) in the former

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. Her installation as such was opposed by Berlin's senior Orthodox rabbi Yitzchak Ehrenberg. She converted to Judaism in 1995. She was ordained by the

Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, (, ''Machon Schechter'') located in the Neve Granot neighborhood of Jerusalem, is an Israeli academic institution. History Founded in 1984 by the Jewish Theological Seminary (N.Y.) and Israel's Masorti M ...

in Jerusalem in 2003. She established a Conservative Jewish

beit midrash A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), although ...

in Berlin. She was part of the 2006 founding of the European Rabbinical Assembly of Masorti/Conservative Rabbis. As of 2013, she was the executive vice president of Masorti Europe and the rabbi of New Synagogue, Berlin. The 2022 art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, shown among other places at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, featured art about twenty-four female rabbis who were firsts in some way; Yona Verwer created the artwork about Ederberg that was in that exhibit.

Publications

References

1968 births Converts to Conservative Judaism Living people German Conservative rabbis Conservative women rabbis People from Tübingen {{Germany-rabbi-stub