Jackie Tabick

ChildrenThreeDenominationReform JudaismJewish leaderSuccessorRabbi Jonathan RomainPositionConvenor of the Reform Movement Beit DinOrganisationMovement for Reform JudaismBegan2012Ended2023SemikhahLeo Baeck College in 1975

Jacqueline Hazel "Jackie" Tabick (née Acker; born 1948) is a British Reform rabbi. She became Britain's first female rabbi in 1975.^[1][2] She retired in 2023 as convenor of the Movement for Reform Judaism's Beit Din,^[3] the first woman in the role,^[3][1] and until its closure in 2022 was also Rabbi of West Central Liberal Synagogue in Bloomsbury, central London.^[4]

Early life and training

Born in Dublin, Tabick spent most of her early life in England^[5] and grew up in the community of South West Essex & Settlement Reform Synagogue.^[6] After reading Medieval History for her degree at University College London, she enrolled at the Leo Baeck College where she completed her rabbinical training.^[5] She graduated to become Britain's first female rabbi in 1975.^[2]

Rabbinical life

Starting as the assistant rabbi at West London Synagogue under Rabbi Hugo Gryn,^[7] she left in 1998 to become the rabbi of North West Surrey Synagogue.^[2] She held this position until July 2013,^[8][9] combining it with her role, since 2012, as the first female convenor of the Reform Movement's Beit Din.^[1] She has previously been the Movement's vice-president and is patron of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE).^[10] She currently leads services at London's West Central Liberal Synagogue.^[4]

Tabick has played a leading role in interfaith initiatives.^[11] She is an executive of The Inter Faith Network.^[2] She was, for many years, chair of the World Congress of Faiths and is now co-president.^[12]

Family life

She has been married to Rabbi Larry Tabick since 1975 and was the first female rabbi to marry a rabbi.^[13] Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947,^[14] Larry came to England to study at the Leo Baeck College in the early 1970s and retired as rabbi of Shir Hayim in Hampstead in 2017.^[14] He and Jackie have three children,^[2][15] one of whom, Roni Tabick, is rabbi of the Masorti synagogue New Stoke Newington Shul in Stoke Newington, London.^[3][16]

Other

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;^[17][18] Sandy Bleifer created the artwork about Tabick that was in that exhibit.^[19]

References

External links

• North West Surrey Synagogue profile of Jackie Tabick
• Jackie Tabick at TED