Rabbi Rachel G. Greengrass

Rachel Greengrass has been part of the Beth Am family since 2008, where she has become part of every aspect of Temple Beth Am, and believes that Judaism is a beautiful tool through which we can live spiritual lives of meaning and heal the world.

Rabbi Greengrass was ordained from HUC-JIR. She holds a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature (HUC), a Masters of Religious Education (HUC), is a certified PREPARE/ENRICH counselor and was granted the title of Reform Jewish Educator (RJE). She serves as chair of the CCAR Resolutions Committee, is a RAC Balfour-Brickner Fellow, a Rabbis Without Boarders Fellow, a member of Hartman’s first all-female Rabbinic Fellowship, a founding member of RAC-FL, a Clergy Leadership Incubator Fellow, and currently serves as the President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. She is the recipient of T’ruah’s Rabbinic Human Rights Hero Award for 2021.

A Mussar instructor and practitioner, Rabbi Greengrass’ deep commitment to prayer and Torah inspires and nurtures her deep commitment to social justice work. Her words, both spoken and written, have been published in a wide range of mediums, including a chapter entitled “The Planet in Peril” in Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority: Our Jewish Obligation to Social Justice. She also authored a chapter on justice in our court systems in The Social Justice Commentary, and a chapter “When Words Sound Right but Do Wrong” in a forthcoming volume entitled No Time for Neutrality: American Rabbinic Voices During an Era of Upheaval.

She has been a featured panelist twice on NPR’s All Things Considered, as well as the Miami Herald, Jerusalem Post, Time magazine, New York Times and others. She has written prayers and created rituals that are featured both in the CCAR Rabbi’s manual as well as ritualwell.com.

Rabbi Greengrass is safe-zone certified, which means she is an official advocate for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community. This too is one of her passions. She also is an avid reader, plays the guitar, bakes challah every week, and loves her family.

Rabbi Greengrass is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana where she was active in her synagogue’s youth group and taught in the religious school. While attending Washington University in St. Louis — where she earned a B.S.B.A. in Marketing — she continued her volunteer work in a religious school and soon discovered her calling as a rabbi.