Three years into her role leading Temple Rodef Shalom, Rabbi Alexandra Stein loves the work.
“I want to do all the good that I can [in the world],” Stein said, noting that she cherishes spending time with members of the community.
In addition to her rabbinical duties, Stein participates in social justice initiatives with the TRS community.
Stein lives in Washington, D.C., where she enjoys spending time with friends and family, going to museums, reading and hiking.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in the Reform movement in D.C. and went to Temple Sinai as a kid. I was very moved by the Jewish communities I was a part of growing up. [They] were very committed to social justice work, which I think really resonated with me and continues to resonate with me, and being communal spaces that were caring and loving and where people could connect with one another and hopefully make a difference in each other’s lives and the world. I think that’s still very much what moves me about being involved in Jewish communal life and definitely something I love about TRS — people are very passionate about doing good work in the world and connecting to one another and connecting deeply to Judaism.
How did you get to where you are today?
I was really compelled and motivated by what I had seen happening in Jewish communities in terms of what they could do both for the people in them and for the world around them. I knew a lot of rabbis who said to me, “Don’t be a rabbi just because you like Judaism. Only be a rabbi if you also want to be a rabbi,” which I think was great advice. I think it’s also great to like Judaism and go do other things. I ultimately decided to become a rabbi because I was really excited about the mixture of work that rabbis get to do. I love working with people. I love hearing about people’s lives and being part of community building and learning and connection. And I feel really passionately about the idea that we can all connect to Judaism in our own way and use that as a sense of strength and as something that can motivate us to contribute to the world. I decided to become a rabbi and I’m really delighted that I did.
What’s your favorite aspect of your work?
I really love getting to be with people at different moments in their lives and hear about how they see the world. I value hopefully being a source of support and a sounding board for people, both in hard moments and happy moments and everything in between. What I most love is talking with people about their lives and being with them. I would say in close second place is that I love teaching and learning. I love getting together with groups of people who are interested in learning more and connecting.
What are your main guiding principles as a rabbi?
I think that Judaism is for all of us, that we can all find different ways to connect with Jewish tradition, Jewish community, Jewish culture. Another is that there are lots of different ways to be Jewish and it’s a very rich and varied tradition. There’s room in it for all of us, and it needs all of us to keep helping it evolve. Another is that Jewish tradition has a very strong moral core. I think that’s an important piece, that we look seriously at how we treat one another, how we treat ourselves, how we treat the world. For me, as a person and as a professional, trying to center and lead with kindness and build communities where people are kind and loving to one another is a core value.
How do you incorporate social justice into your work?
One thing about TRS as a community as a whole is that there are a lot of people who are very active in the congregation and are active in helping shape our community and really put in a lot of volunteer time, imaginative effort and hard work. As a rabbi, [I] get to participate in the amazing work that other people in the congregation helped start. I get to be part of it.
One of the huge strengths of Rodef 2100, our 20s and 30s group, is this amazing group of lay leaders who come together and create amazing programming for people in their 20s and 30s. The strength of the group is that it has a strong core of volunteer leaders who are part of it. I feel very privileged to get to plug into the different social action activities that our synagogue does.
Have you experienced challenges as a young rabbi in a male-dominated field?
I would say, happily, many rabbis in my generation, particularly in the Reform movement, benefit from the fact that there have been several generations of amazing female rabbis who came before us, like the senior rabbi of my congregation, who is also a woman. We have another coworker, Rabbi Jeff Saxe, who’s a man. Then we have two cantorial colleagues: a man and a woman. In our congregation and many Reform congregations, the leadership of people of many genders is well represented, so I feel grateful for that.
