Jackie Tabick
Honorific-prefixRabbi
OrganisationMovement for Reform Judaism
OrganisationpositionConvenor of the Reform Movement Beit Din
Began2012
Ended2023
SuccessorRabbi Jonathan Romain
SemichaLeo Baeck College in 1975
Birth nameJacqueline Acker
Birth dateOctober 8, 1948 (age 77)
Birth placeDublin, Ireland
NationalityBritish
DenominationReform Judaism
SpouseRabbi Larry Tabick (m. 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

  1. ^ Rocker, Simon (23 February 2012). "Tabick achieves another first at Reform Beit Din". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Rabbi Jackie Tabick". The Jewish Chronicle. 23 September 2009. Archived 21 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  3. ^ Rocker, Simon (11 January 2024). "Meet the trailblazer who was the UK’s first woman rabbi". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Rabbi Jacki Tabick". West Central Liberal Synagogue. Liberal Judaism. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Rabbi Jackie Tabick". North West Surrey Synagogue. Archived from the original on July 26, 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick celebrates 40 years in the rabbinate". Movement for Reform Judaism. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. ^ Messik, Louise (24 November 2011). "West London Synagogue of British Jews: Ministers of the Congregation". JCR-UK. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  8. ^ Forman, Cathy (29 July 2013). "Tabick is bid a warm farewell in Weybridge". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  9. ^ "North West Surrey Synagogue says farewell to Rabbi Jackie Tabick". Movement for Reform Judaism. 9 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Jackie Tabick: Spiritual leader". TED. October 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Faith groups call for sense of responsibility and interdependence". Positive News. 3 February 2012. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  12. ^ "Rabbi Jackie Tabick becomes interfaith president". Movement for Reform Judaism. 7 May 2013. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  13. ^ Einstein Schorr, Rebecca & Mendelson Graf, Alysa (17 May 2016). The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate. CCAR Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-88123-280-6.
  14. ^ "Rabbi Larry Tabick". Leo Baeck College. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Introducing Rabbi Larry Tabick". Shir Hayim. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  16. ^ Tabick, Roni (17 November 2015). "Meet the Rabbi – Rabbi Roni Tabick". Masorti Judaism (UK). Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  17. ^ Eckerling, Debra L. (March 31, 2022). "“Holy Sparks” Exhibition Celebrates 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate". Jewish Journal
  18. ^ "Holy Sparks: Celebrating Fifty Years of Women in the Rabbinate". HUC
  19. ^ "VIDEO: HOLY SPARKS – Celebrating 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate". Jewish Art Salon. January 30, 2022.