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Alexandra Wright is a British Liberal rabbi who was appointed as the first female senior rabbi in England in 2004, as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London. She is President of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom.

Wright became the seventh woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United Kingdom in 1986; she was ordained at Leo Baeck College, and has taught classical Hebrew there. She served as Associate Rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue from 1986 until 1989. She then served as Rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 1989 until 2003.

In 2010 she wrote an open letter to Rowan Williams, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking him to ordain women as bishops.

She has contributed to two anthologies of women rabbis' essays and liturgies – Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel. She is also the only woman whose sermon has been included in Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein's Jewish Preaching in Times of War.

Personal life

She has two children, Gabrielle and Benedict.

References

1. Axelrod, Tony (7 August 2009). "Women taking reins of Jewish communal life in Europe". Jewish Telegraph Agency. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
2. "Liberal Judaism elects Rabbi Alexandra Wright as its new president". The Jewish Chronicle. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
3. ^ "Our rabbis". Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
4. ^ Rocker, Simon (15 July 2010). "Ordain women, rabbi urges the Archbishop". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
5. "Our History". Radlett Reform Synagogue. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
6. ^ "Rabbi Alexandra Wright". The Jewish Chronicle. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2022.

External links

• Profile at Liberal Judaism website

v t e   Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom
Rabbis and other leaders	Living Charley Baginsky Rebecca Birk Lucian Hudson Julia Neuberger Danny Rich Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah Mark Solomon Alexandra Wright Historical Sidney Brichto Albert Friedlander Harry Jacobi Lily Montagu Claude Montefiore John Rayner
Communities and synagogues	Bloomsbury Brighton Ealing Finchley LJS (St John's Wood) Lincolnshire Peterborough South London (Streatham) York
Cemeteries	Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden
Organisations	Leo Baeck College LJY-Netzer Sternberg Centre

v t e Women rabbis and Torah scholars
Timeline of women rabbis
Pre-modern figures	Bible and Talmud Deborah (1107–1067 BCE) Bruriah (2nd century) Medieval and early modern era Rashi's daughters (11th–12th century) Bat ha-Levi (12th century) Paula Dei Mansi (13th century) Miriam Shapira-Luria (14th century) Fioretta of Modena (1522–1580) Bayla Falk (16th century) Eva Bacharach (1580–1651) Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) Frehat Bat Avraham (d. 1756) Maiden of Ludmir (1805–1888)
Modern figures	Ray Frank (1861–1948) Lily Montagu (1873–1963) Regina Jonas (1902–1944) Tehilla Lichtenstein (1893–1973) Paula Ackerman (1893–1989) Martha Neumark (1904–1981) Avis Clamitz (1908-1991) Helen Levinthal (1910–1989) Sally Priesand (b. 1946) Mimi Feigelson (b. 1963) First ordination by denomination Regina Jonas (Reform, 1935) Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist, 1974) Lynn Gottlieb (Renewal, 1981) Amy Eilberg (Conservative, 1985) Tamara Kolton (Humanistic, 1999) Sara Hurwitz (Orthodox, 2009)
Alternate rabbinical roles	Yoetzet halacha Toanot Rabniyot
Organisations and midrashot	Women's Rabbinic Network Yeshivat Maharat Matan Women's Institute Midreshet Lindenbaum Nishmat Center Hadran
Category: Women rabbis

• Living people
• 20th-century English rabbis
• 21st-century English rabbis
• Alumni of Leo Baeck College
• British Liberal rabbis
• Rabbis from London
• Women rabbis