Meet Rabbi Joseph

Rachel L. Joseph

Associate Rabbi
Contact through Beeta Neshati
She/ Her/ Hers
(503) 222-1069
Email

More about Rabbi Joseph
Rabbi Rachel Joseph was born in Dayton, OH, and was raised in Cincinnati, OH.  She was active at Isaac Meyer Wise Temple from a young age until high school graduation, and she spent every summer at Goldman Union Camp Institute, the URJ camp in Zionsville, Indiana. Rachel also lived internationally on and off during her childhood, while her father, Rabbi Sam Joseph, consulted in progressive Jewish communities from Australia and Brazil to Hong Kong. She attended Ohio University – Athens, where she majored in Interpersonal Communications with minors in Political Studies and Women’s Studies. After graduation, Rachel worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She then began working for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, where she stayed for seven years in the Legislative Affairs Department as a lobbyist and Associate Director, until she resigned and began her rabbinic studies at the Jerusalem campus of HUC-JIR in Israel.

Rachel is both a Wexner and Tisch Rabbinical Fellow.  These are huge honors, given to the best and brightest in the class. Rachel completed her second and third years of studies at the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, where she received her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters. While in California, Rachel served congregations in Victorville and Merced as well as at Temple Isaiah of Los Angeles. She then moved back to Cincinnati for her fourth and fifth years of rabbinical school so she could be closer to family.

While in Cincinnati, Rachel served as a chaplain at Cedar Village and as a student rabbi in Kokomo, Indiana. She served as a rabbinic intern for community organizing for the Union of Reform Judaism, Just Congregations, and the Isaac Meyer Wise Temple. Rabbi Joseph moved to Portland with her son Max in July 2012 to join our community.