by Amy Stone
Rachel Isaacs knew by the age of 13 she wanted to be a rabbi. Awareness of her sexuality came later.
Isaacs described her coming-of-age as a lesbian: “I came out to myself around 14. I started the Gay-Straight Alliance in high school (in Freehold, NJ). At Wellesley, being gay was in no way noteworthy.” Openly lesbian, when she was ready for rabbinic school, Conservative Judaism was not ready for her. Isaacs spent two years at Reform Judaism’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and transferred to the Jewish Theological Seminary ( JTS) in New York as soon as the school admitted openly gay and lesbian rabbinical students, in 2007.
by Amy Stone
Rachel Isaacs knew by the age of 13 she wanted to be a rabbi. Awareness of her sexuality came later.