Rona Shapiro

Rona Shapiro became the first female rabbi to head a Conservative synagogue in Cleveland in 2007, when she became rabbi of Congregation Bethaynu in Pepper Pike.[1]

Shapiro was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1990.[2] She worked as the executive director of the University of Berkeley Hillel from 1990 to 1999, and was the senior associate of Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project in Manhattan for seven years before moving to Cleveland.[2][3] For six of those years she also served the Austin, Texas, congregation Agudas Achim, traveling there during the High Holy Days.[2] She contributed a chapter to the 2000 anthology The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions.[4]

In 2011 the majority of the congregants of Congregation Bethaynu in Pepper Pike moved to B'nai Jeshurun Congregation, which also is in Pepper Pike, since Congregation Bethaynu was for sale.[5][6] Shapiro then became a rabbi at B'nai Jeshurun Congregation.[6] In 2013 she resigned from B'nai Jeshurun Congregation and became the first female rabbi of B’nai Jacob, a Conservative synagogue in New Haven, Connecticut.[7][1]

In 2016 Shapiro was named by The Forward as one of the most inspiring rabbis in America.She is also a participant in the Shalom Hartman Institute Rabbinic Leadership Initiative and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She resides in Woodbridge, CT with her husband, David Franklin; they are the parents of two daughters.