Barbara Borts


Barbara Marcy Borts is an American-born Movement for Reform Judaism rabbi in the United Kingdom. She was one of the first women in Europe to be ordained as a rabbi and the first woman to have her own pulpit in a UK Reform Judaism synagogue.

Early life

Barbara Borts was born in Los Angeles in 1953 to Natalie and Abe Borts. After studying at Leo Baeck College in London, she was ordained as a rabbi in 1981, at the same time as Rabbi Sybil Sheridan; they were two of the first women rabbis in Europe.

Career

Barbara Borts took up posts as rabbi at Hampstead Reform Synagogue and at Mill Hill Reform Synagogue. From 1984 to 1990 she was rabbi at Radlett Reform Synagogue, the first woman rabbi to have a pulpit of her own in a UK Reform Judaism synagogue. After spending some time in North America, where she became the first female rabbi in Montreal and was one of the first religious leaders to conduct same-sex marriages in Ontario, she worked as part-time rabbi of Newcastle Reform Synagogue from 2008 to 2012 and became part-time rabbi of a small Jewish community in Basel, Switzerland.
In 2014 she gained a doctorate in Jewish music from the University of Durham. As of 2017 she is taking services at Darlington Hebrew Congregation, where she is also providing rabbinical advice, and is studying to become a chazzan.

Social justice

In 2010 she and 51 other rabbis called for action to end the killing in the Congo.
In 2013, along with more than 200 Jews, she signed a statement drawn up by Jewish Socialist magazine, marking the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht and slamming "the toxic sentiments expressed by many politicians and much of the media against migrants, asylum seekers, Gypsies and Travellers".
In December 2014, The Guardian published a letter signed by her and other UK rabbis, sharing the Archbishop of Canterbury's concerns about child poverty in Britain.

Publications

Barbara Borts' publications include:
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