Amy Perlin
Amy Perlin is the first female rabbi in America to start her own congregation, Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, which she was the founding rabbi of in 1986. In 1978 she graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Near Eastern Studies, with summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. In 1980 she received a M.A.H.L., and in 1982 she was ordained by the Reform seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2007.
In 2012 Perlin and fifteen other leaders of the Reform Jewish movement met with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew. That year she was also honored by Jewish Women International as one of its "Women to Watch". In 2013 she was inducted onto the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and was included in The Jewish Daily Forward's list of America's 36 Most Inspiring Rabbis. She is married and has two children, and she and her husband Gary have started a family foundation.
