Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Nina Mandel Named Head of Reconstructionist Rabbis Group

Rabbi Nina Mandel of Pennsylvania has been appointed the new president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

Mandel’s appointment was announced Monday.

She joins two other women in leading the Reconstructionist movement: Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, the association’s interim executive director, and Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities.

Mandel was nominated for the post at the association’s convention on March 17 in Toronto. She succeeds Rabbi Jason Klein, who was the first openly gay man chosen to head a national rabbinical association of one of the major Jewish denominations in the United States.

She leads Congregation Beth El in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and also teaches classes in Jewish philosophy and culture, women’s studies, diversity studies and Jewish film at Susquehanna University.

Mandel was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003. She holds a master’s degree in anthropology from New York University.

“I am always aware I am standing before an association made up of smart, committed rabbis,” Mandel said in a statement. “We know that no matter where or how we serve, our commitment to the Jewish people is essential to our rabbinate. We have a communal responsibility to the future of those Jewish people who look to us as representatives, as teachers, and as guides.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.