Rabbi Ellen Lippman

Ellen Lippmann is a rabbi and a committed advocate for justice. Born in 1951 in Washington D.C., Lippmann grew up in a household in Arlington, Virginia, in which Jewish life was always celebrated and engaged. The synagogue she attended in Alexandria, VA, became a second home as both her parents served as synagogue president. These early experiences solidified a love for Judaism that Lippmann has always maintained. She graduated from Boston University in 1972. She had not participated regularly in Jewish life on campus, but remembers what it was like as she graduated at the very same time that Sally Preisand, North America’s first female rabbi, was ordained. This historical moment was highly reported and the coverage inspired Lippmann toward what would become her future career.

After getting a masters degree in library science from Simmons College and working in several public libraries, Lippman never let go of the idea of becoming a rabbi. So in 1986, she enrolled at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, beginning with a year in Jerusalem followed by four years in New York.. As a student, Lippmann remembers being in a “double closet” of sorts— she was a lesbian rabbinical student, and she was partnered with a non-Jew. This was at a time when HUC did not openly accept LGBTQ students (this changed in 1991), nor did they admit and ordain students in relationships with non-Jewish partners (changed in 2024) Lippmann was part of a group at the school in the late 80s called Hinenu, a gay and lesbian students who were pushing for HUC-JIR to accept them openly. In 2013, Lippmann penned an op-ed to the trustees at HUC-JIR, urging them to open the doors to students with non-Jewish partners and spouses, telling her story and emphasizing the importance of inclusion and the role of a rabbi. The piece (https://forward.com/opinion/176823/reform-rabbi-urges-hebrew-union-college-to-reconsi/) was published in The Forward, and was one of the two or three most-read pieces that year.

After ordination, Lippmann began to work with MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. In 1988 at HUC Lippmann had worked to start a soup kitchen that fed hungry and homeless New Yorkers until 2026, so MAZON linked to her previous activism. In 1993, she began to create the beginnings of what would be Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, a progressive independent congregation in Brooklyn, New York. Lippmann remembers that from the beginning the congregation’s ethos was one of openness to the wide range of Jewish identities and practices not always accepted in more mainstream communities, emphasizing a self-understanding of “come as you are.” Unsurprisingly, Kolot Chayeinu drew a significant queer involvement from the start. For Lippmann, queer and Jewish life had long felt intertwined; this was a natural progression and Kolot Chayeinu worked to pay attention to the issues its LGBTQ congregants faced. Lippman officially retired from Kolot Chayeinu in 2018, though she worked closely again with the community for a year and a half beginning in 2024. In 2026 she was delighted to Join the congregation in welcoming a new rabbi.

Aside from her work at Kolot Chayeinu, Lippmann has contributed to a significant number of causes and activist organizations. She served on the board of Jews For Racial and Economic Justice (JFREG) for six years and serves until 2028 one the board of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Lippmann is also well known for her pro-Palestine activism, having been long connected with Rabbis for Human Rights and later with T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. Lippmann traveled with colleagues and congregants to plant or harvest olive trees in the West Bank and rebuild destroyed Palestinian homes.

Post-October 7th, 2023, Lippmann has been happily involved in Rabbis for Ceasefire. Founded in 2023, the organization responded to an absence of comment from many left leaning human rights groups about the developing vengeful violence in Palestine (now escalated to a true definition of genocide) following the horrors of the Hamas attack on Israelis on October 7. Lippmann has noticed a frequent overlap between queerness and leftist politics surrounding Israel and Palestine, and notes that queer and Jewish activism has intersected in this realm of her work. Rabbis for Ceasefire emphasizes Liberatory Judaism, a Jewish framework emphasizing the role that collective liberation, anti-racism, and human rights serve in Jewish tradition. It aims to decenter the state of Israel from Judaic identity, instead viewing religious study as a tool to dismantle and battle oppression.

Lippmann had also long worked with New Yorkers of many faiths to bridge differences, support immigrants and others under attack, and that work continues urgently in 2026. She serves as liaison between JFREJ Clergy and its leadership of the End Deportation campaign, and is part of a neighborhood team creating Solidarity Suppers in Kensington, Brooklyn.

She also serves a mentor to younger rabbis and other activists, both in official programs and on an ad-hoc basis, thoroughly enjoying seeing the possibility of a better future in their good hands.

(This biographical statement was written by Malena Glover from an interview with Ellen Lippman and was edited by Lippman.)

Biography Date: July 2026

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