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
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ardmore
Meeting
Rex Perlmeter, CCAR (Participant)
Ellen Lewis, Professional Supervision for Clergy (Participant)
Sessions in which Ellen Lewis attends
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
General Session
Dana Bash, CNN (Participant)
Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Overlook
Reception
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon ABCD
Meal
Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon ABCD
Meal
Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Emory University (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Worship
Rachel Timoner, New York (Participant)
Noam Katz, The Leo Baeck Day School (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Panel
Mayor Kasim Reed (Participant)
Reverend Natosha Reid Rice, Habitat for Humanity International AND Ebenezer Baptist Church (Participant)
Reverend Raphael Warnock PhD, The Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon ABCD
Meeting
Rex Perlmeter, CCAR (Participant)
btorop, CCAR (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Hotel Lobby
Off-site Trip
Atlanta - Museum
Off-site Trip
Derreck Kayongo, The Center for Civil and Human Rights (Participant)
Atlanta - The Temple
Reception
Atlanta - The Temple
Off-site Trip
Melissa Fay Greene (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon DEF
Meal
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Worship
Shira Joseph, Congregation Shaaray Shalom (Participant)
Matan Koch (Participant)
Ben Spratt, Congregation Rodeph Sholom (Participant)
Edythe Mencher LCSW, Union for Reform Judaism (Participant)
Rebecca Dubowe, Moses Montefiore Temple (Participant)
Cantor Faryn Kates Rudnick, Temple Beth-El, Northbrook, IL (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Talk
Paul Root Wolpe PhD, Emory University (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Overlook
Meeting
Hara Person, CCAR (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Talk
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom and The Terrace
Reception
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon F
Worship
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
General Session
Joseph J. Levin Jr., Southern Poverty Law Center (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
General Session
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Ellington Ballroom - Salon DEF
Meal
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Worship
Josh Weinberg, ARZA (Participant)
Or Zohar, IMPJ , Misgav Regional Council (Participant)
Galit Cohen-Kedem, Kehilat Kodesh V’Hol in Holon (Participant)
Loews Atlanta Hotel - Mercer Ballroom
Workshop
Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, ROOTS/Shorashim (Participant)
Ali Abu Awwad, ROOTS/Shorashim (Participant)