Since her ordination in 1980, Ellen Lewis has enjoyed a bi-vocational career as both a rabbi and a psychotherapist. She spent 35 years serving synagogues in Dallas, Texas; Summit, NJ (named Rabbi Honorata); and Washington, NJ (named Rabbi Emerita). She was a founder and co-chair of the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She is an active member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and currently serves on the Task Force on the Experience of Women in the Rabbinate. She is also a certified pastoral counselor and is a member of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.
While serving as a congregational rabbi, Ellen Lewis became increasingly interested in why people do what they do, leading her to train at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies and become a licensed psychoanalyst. That training in emotional education led to her focusing on helping rabbis and cantors manage the challenges of the professional arena, including collegial conflict, work-life balance, gender issues, and personal and professional transformations, with the overall aim of an increased capacity for self-care, reflection and contentment. She is in private practice in Bernardsville, NJ, and New York City.
Ellen Lewis’ writings and teachings have focused on the intersection of psychoanalytic thinking and Judaism with a concentration on the rabbinate and Jewish communal life. Her essay “Changing Your Past: Reflections on Forgiveness,” appears in the new Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe. She has contributed chapters to The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate (“Funny, You Don’t Look Like a Rabbi”) and to Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook (“Preparing for the Chupah: Premarital Counseling”). She has also written in the area of sexual abuse, including the unfortunately timely “Preventing Clergy Sexual Abuse” in Keeping Faith in Rabbis: A Community Conversation about Rabbinic Education.
Sessions in which Ellen Lewis participates
Tel Aviv - Museum of Art
Worship
Harold Kudan, Congregation Am Shalom (Participant)
Ellen Lewis, Professional Supervision for Clergy (Participant)
Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami (Participant)
Thalia Halpert Rodis, HUC-JIR (Participant)
Deborah Hirsch, Shaaray Tefila (Participant)
Levi Weiman Kelman (Participant)
Beth Waldorf, NAORRR (Participant)
Josh Weinberg, ARZA (Participant)
David Lyon, Congregation Beth Israel (Participant)
Mary Zamore, Women's Rabbinic Network (Participant)
Naamah Kelman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem (HUC-JIR) (Participant)
Steve Fox, CCAR (Participant)
Boaz Dorot (Participant)
Shani Ben Or (Participant)
Judith Schindler, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Noa Sattath, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Yehoyada Amir, Professor and Chair (Participant)
Gilad Kariv, IMPJ (Participant)
Anat Hoffman, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Sessions in which Ellen Lewis attends
Inbal Hotel - Lobby
Jerusalem - Various Hotels
Inbal Hotel - Zion Ballroom
Janet Liss, North Country Reform Temple (Participant)
Scott Sperling, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Inbal Hotel - Zion Ballroom
Anat Hoffman, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Gilad Kariv, IMPJ (Participant)
Noa Sattath, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Janet Liss, North Country Reform Temple (Moderator)
Arnold Gluck (Moderator)
Inbal Hotel - Zion Ballroom
MK Hilik Bar, Zionist Union (Participant)
John Rosove, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Rueven Hazan, Chair, Department of Political Science at Hebrew University (Moderator)
Elias Zananiri, PLO Committee for Interaction with the Israeli Society (Participant)
Inbal Hotel - Zion Ballroom
Naftali Rothenberg, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (Moderator)
Ms. Haifa Sabbagh, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (Participant)
Dr. Yonatan Mendel, Manarat: The Van Leer Center for Jewish-Arab Relations (Participant)
Judith Schindler, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Rami Adut (Participant)
Mercaz Shimshon - Blaustein Hall
Yehoyada Amir, Professor and Chair (Participant)
Janet Liss, North Country Reform Temple (Participant)
Scott Sperling, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami (Participant)
Inbal Hotel - Galil Hall
Worship
Levi Weiman Kelman (Participant)
Ellen Nemhauser, WRN President (Participant)
Lawrence Englander (Participant)
Jerusalem - Knesset
Talk
Anat Hoffman, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Noa Sattath, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Josh Weinberg, ARZA (Participant)
Jerusalem - Departing from Knesset
Off-site Trip
Anat Hoffman, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Judith Schindler, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
John Rosove, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Avi Newman (Participant)
Menashe Bleiweiss (Participant)
Jerusalem - HUC - JIR
Naamah Kelman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem (HUC-JIR) (Participant)
Karen L Fox (Participant)
Dr. Aaron Panken, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Participant)
Jerusalem - Kotel
Worship
Ada Zavidov (Participant)
Zachary Shapiro (Participant)
Jerusalem - Off-site Tracks
Lennard Thal, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Tel Aviv - Local Restaurants
Meal
David Intercontinental Hotel - Lobby
David Intercontinental Hotel - Ballroom
Karen L Fox (Participant)
Tel Aviv - Various Locations
Israel - Various Prayer Spaces
Worship
Tel Aviv - Various Hotels
Tel Aviv - Museum of Art
Worship
Harold Kudan, Congregation Am Shalom (Participant)
Ellen Lewis, Professional Supervision for Clergy (Participant)
Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami (Participant)
Thalia Halpert Rodis, HUC-JIR (Participant)
Deborah Hirsch, Shaaray Tefila (Participant)
Levi Weiman Kelman (Participant)
Beth Waldorf, NAORRR (Participant)
Josh Weinberg, ARZA (Participant)
David Lyon, Congregation Beth Israel (Participant)
Mary Zamore, Women's Rabbinic Network (Participant)
Naamah Kelman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem (HUC-JIR) (Participant)
Steve Fox, CCAR (Participant)
Boaz Dorot (Participant)
Shani Ben Or (Participant)
Judith Schindler, CCAR Israel Convention (Participant)
Noa Sattath, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Yehoyada Amir, Professor and Chair (Participant)
Gilad Kariv, IMPJ (Participant)
Anat Hoffman, Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) (Participant)
Tel Aviv - Mishkenot Ruth Daniel
Meal
Meir Azari, Beit Daniel (Participant)
Mickey Gitzin, Tel Aviv's Municipality (Participant)
Mehereta Baruch (Participant)
Dr. Nadine Baudot-Trachtenberg, Bank of Israel (Participant)
MK Manuel Trachtenberg, Zionist Union (Participant)
Elaine Zecher, CCAR (Participant)
Paul Kipnes RJE, Congregation Or Ami (Participant)
David Stern, CCAR (Participant)
Tel Aviv - Off-site Tracks
Off-site Trip
David Intercontinental Hotel - Ballroom
Nir Barkin, IMPJ (Participant)
Carey Brown (Participant)
Kobi Oz (Participant)
Mayor Ron Huldai (Participant)
Oren Hayon, CCAR (Moderator)
Yehudit Werchow, Masa (Moderator)
Daniel Shapiro, United States of America (Participant)
David Intercontinental Hotel - Ballroom
Galia Sadan (Participant)
Isaac Serotta (Participant)