Rabbi Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert is an American professor of Jewish American religious history, and was one of the first congregational women rabbis. Her chief speciality is sexuality in Judaism, and she says that her beliefs were transformed by a Sabbath prayer book that refers to God as 'She'.
After completing her Ph.D. and receiving her rabbinic ordination, Alpert worked on a contractual basis with a number of synagogues in the U.S. and Canada. In this capacity she was among a handful of the first generation of congregational women rabbis. She came out as a lesbian in 1986. She divorced her husband Joel Alpert and became partners with Christie Balka. During this time she also taught courses in Holocaust Studies at Rutgers University, and she was the Dean of Students at the RRC until 1987. Thereafter she served in several capacities at Temple University: as Director of Adult Programs, Director of the Program in Women's Studies, and finally a faculty member in the departments of religion and women's studies. Alpert's research has focused on explaining and expounding the Reconstructionist tradition, the place of gays and lesbians in Jewish religious history, and the relationships between Jews, blacks, and sports during the years 1930–1950. Her book on that topic, Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball, was published by Oxford University Press. She has also edited several volumes and published articles on a wide range of topics including sexuality in Judaism, the definition of who is Jewish and who is not, gay liberation theology, Alvin Dark, and Jackie Robinson. Her book Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition from Columbia University Press received the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for best LGBT book on religion. She also wrote "Finding Our Past: A Lesbian Interpretation of the Book of Ruth," which was included in Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story, edited by J. A. Kates and G.T. Reimer. She has lectured at a number of colleges and universities, including Columbia, UPenn, Princeton and Swarthmore and is an active public intellectual who writes for mainstream publications and frequently speaks at rallies and on panels in the Philadelphia region and beyond. Alpert is a recipient of a Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. She has recently taught courses on religion in American public life, Jews, America and sports, and sexuality in world religions. Alpert is currently a Professor in the Departments of Religion and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at Temple University, and Senior Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. She has mentored several graduate students, including Marie Dallam, author of Cowboy Christians and Brett Krutzsch, author of Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics, both from Oxford University Press. According to her faculty website: "In the past several years her research has focused on religion and sports. Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball, was published by Oxford University Press in June 2011. Religion and Sports: An Introduction and Case Studies was published by Columbia University Press in May 2015." An anthology, co-edited with Arthur Remillard, Gods, Games, and Globalization: New Perspectives on Religion and Sport was published by Mercer University Press in 2019.
Israel
Alongside Katherine Franke, a Columbia Law School professor, Alpert publicly canceled her scheduled appearance at the Equality Forum's 2012 Global LGBT Summit in Philadelphia to protest Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, accusing the organizers of the forum of becoming "cheerleaders for Israel."
Siddur Nashim
She commented : Siddur Nashim was published in 1976 by Naomi Janowitz and Margaret Wenig.
