Amy Small

Rabbi Amy Joy Small is the founding Rabbi and Director of Deborah's Palm Center for Jewish Learning and Experiences. She was ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1987 and has served congregations in New Jersey, Michigan and Indiana. She is a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, with many years of board service. She is a fellow of Rabbis Without Borders and a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. She is currently on the Board of Governors of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the Jewish Federation of Metrowest NJ, National Interreligious Leadership Delegation for Peace in the Middle East, and the MetroWest NJ Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life. She was a Vice Chair for the National JNFA Rabbinic Cabinet, and served on the boards of Religions for Peace USA, the American Zionist Movement, and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Israel Committee. Among her interfaith activities, she co-taught an intensive course, Building Abrahamic Partnerships at the Hartford Seminary. Rabbi Small previously was Dean of Academic Administration and Director of the Education Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.


Articles by Amy Small

“Wow! I Didn’t Know I Live in Such a Progressive Country!”

Having traveled frequently to Israel for the last decade, I have many amusing stories of security interviews before boarding flights ...

Imagine

Rosh Chodesh Av 5772 – the first day of the new month of Av on July 20, 2012, and here ...

My First “Freedom Ride”

A couple of years ago I learned about a new front in the internal Israeli struggle over religious freedom: gender ...

Passing the Mantle of the Sixties

Last year I was chatting with a member of my congregation over bagels with our Tot Shabbat families. She mentioned ...

A Quarter Century, a Lifetime of Change

Twenty-five years ago I stood with three classmates from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and received the title “rabbi.” After five ...

Remembering and Keeping Memorial Day

I was thinking today about a Memorial Day breakfast I attended a couple years ago at the home of a ...

In Pursuit of Learning

Yesterday was a big day for our family. My daughter graduated from college. She was the fourth of our five ...

Stand in My Cycling Shoes, Please!

A few days ago I was on my way home from work on my bike when a passenger in a ...

What’s All the Fuss?

The annual Newsweek/Daily Beast list of America’s fifty top rabbis came out recently. Like many of my colleagues I always ...

Into the Conversation

I was recently in an awkward social situation.   My husband and I were invited to dinner at the home of ...