![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
With kavod (honor) to “all whose hearts were stirred to share” (kol asher nasa libam, cf. Exodus 36:2-3), this is a searchable index of all liturgists, translators, transcribers, etc. whose work on Jewish prayer, on prayer books, and on public readings is being shared through the Open Siddur Project. After ten years, the total number of project contributors is nearly 800. A little over half have shared their work either directly with the project with an Open Content license, or indirectly by contributing their work into the Public Domain as a contributor to a government publication. Nearly fifty are institutional copyright stewards (operating or defunct for-profit and non-profit entities). The remaining contributors have had their works transcribed from material that has passed into the Public Domain after their deaths. Some transcribed works shared through the Open Siddur project remain unattributed due to unknown authorship. If you find an uncredited or improperly attributed work, please contact us.
To join this community of contributors, please share your work. Making prayers and related religious works available for creative reuse and republication through Open Content licenses is crucial for keeping Jewish culture cross-pollinating, vital, and relevant under the current climate of denominationally identified silos and proprietary-by-default copyright strictures. Prospective contributors should read our Mission Statement, Terms of Use, and Copyleft Policy. The Open Siddur is a non-prescriptive, non-denominational project and invites participation without prejudice towards ethnic heritage, skin color, nationality, belief or non-belief, sex, gender, sexuality or any other consideration.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. Longfellow wrote predominantly lyric poems, known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts. He studied at Bowdoin College. After spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at Harvard College. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, living the remainder of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington. His first wife Mary Potter died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife Frances Appleton died in 1861 after sustaining burns when her dress caught fire. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time and focused on his translation. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. He died in 1882.
Alan Wagman is an assistant public defender in Albuquerque.
Stanley M. Wagner (January 4, 1932 – February 23, 2013) was an Orthodox rabbi, academic, author, and community leader in the United States. He received his semikhah at Yeshiva University in 1956 and there earned a doctorate in Jewish history and Hebrew literature and five other post-graduate degrees. His 1964 doctoral dissertation, "a study of talmudic terms and categories for deviant religious behavior" was titled Religious Non-Conformity in Ancient Jewish Life. He worked at universities in Lexington, Kentucky (1957–61) and Baldwin, New York (1961–70) before serving as the executive vice president of the Religious Zionists of America (1970–72). He led the Beth HaMedrosh Hagodol-Beth Joseph (1972–97) congregation and was the only rabbi chaplain of the Colorado Senate (1980–98). While serving as a congregational rabbi, Wagner also worked a professor of Jewish history at the University of Denver from 1972 to 1999. In 1975, at the university, he founded and directed the Center for Judaic Studies, Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, Beck Archives, and the Holocaust Awareness Institute. He founded the Mizel Museum in 1982 and served as the director until 2000.
Rabbi Nahum Mayer Waldman (1931-2004) was professor of Bible and Hebrew at Gratz College in Philadelphia.
Jacob Waley (17 March 1818 – 19 June 1873), was an English legal writer and co-founder of the United Synagogue.
Rabbi Max B. (Meir) Wall (1915-2009), born in Poland, was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. His family emigrated to America in 1921 and lived in Denver, Colorado until 1927, when the family relocated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He received an AB from Yeshiva University, and his semikhah from the Jewish Theological Seminary. After taking a pulpit in Woodbury, New Jersey for a year, he enlisted in the Army Chaplain Corps and served with the Ninth Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge and took part in the liberation of the concentration camps. As the Jewish chaplain he was able to help thousands of displaced persons. Captain Wall was instrumental in the revival of Jewish worship in Munich and was the first to conduct a Jewish service there after the war. After returning from Europe in 1946, Rabbi Wall and his family moved to Burlington, Vermont where he served Ohavi Zedek Synagogue from 1946 until his retirement in 1987. He was one of the founders of the Burlington Ecumenical Action Ministry (BEAM) and joined the faculty of St. Michael's College where he taught Jewish related classes from 1964-1993. He also taught Religion and Ethics at Champlain College, and guest lectured at UVM and Norwich University. Rabbi Wall was a moral educator and activist with an enduring commitment to social justice, advocacy for human rights and a tireless effort to improve the social well being of all peoples. He served as the Jewish Chaplain for the State Institutions from 1946-1993, visiting the Brandon School, Waterbury State Hospital, and Vermont prisons. He served on the boards of the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Champlain College, and Howard Mental Health, where he was the chair of the Psychiatric Disabilities Committee. He served on the Governor's Advisory Committee on bio-medical ethics, the Governor's Committee on Youth, the Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and the Vermont State Housing Authority. Rabbi Wall was awarded honorary doctorates from the Jewish Theological Seminary, University of Vermont and St. Michael's College. He received a Commissioner's Award from the Vermont Agency of Human Services in 1994, and many other honors. The Rabbi was a member of the Rotary Club and a Chaplain Emeritus of the Masons. He belonged to several Veterans' groups, and numerous Jewish organizations. He served on the Executive Board of the Rabbinical Assembly of America and the New York Board of Rabbis.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow is the director of The Shalom Center. In 2013, Rabbi Waskow received T’ruah’s first Lifetime Achievement Award as a “Human Rights Hero.” His chapter, “Jewish Environmental Ethics: Adam and Adamah,” appears in Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality (Dorff & Crane, eds.; Oxford Univ. Press, 2013). Rabbi Waskow is the author of 22 books including Godwrestling, Seasons of Our Joy (JPS, 2012), and Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life. With Sister Joan Chittister and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisht he co-authored The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and with with Rabbi Phyllis Berman wrote Freedom Journeys: Exodus & Wilderness Across Millennia (Jewish Lts, 2011). He edited Torah of the Earth (two volumes, eco-Jewish thought from earliest Torah to our own generation). These pioneering books on eco-Judaism are available at discount from “Shouk Shalom,” The Shalom center's online bookstore.
Julia Watts Belser is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Georgetown University. She is the author of Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015) and Rabbinic Tales of Destruction: Gender, Sex, and Disability in the Ruins of Jerusalem (Oxford University Press 2018).
Rav Hershel (Tsvi Elimelekh, Harvey) Waxman (1925-2021), born in New York, was a Ḥassidic rabbi in the United States and community leader in Monsey, New York. He was an early student at Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey and eventually became its executive director. Later, at the request of the Satmar Rebbe, he founded a kollel, Bais Medrash D'Monsey. He authored a six volume compilation of learning in Sefer Teferes Elimelekh.
Leslie Dixon Weatherhead CBE (14 October 1893 – 5 January 1976) was an English Christian theologian in the liberal Protestant tradition. Weatherhead was noted for his preaching ministry at City Temple in London and for his books, including The Will of God, The Christian Agnostic, and Psychology, Religion, and Healing.
Rabbi Steven Weil is Senior Managing Director of the Orthodox Union.
Levi Weiman-Kelman is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Haneshama, a Reform community in Jerusalem devoted to prayer, study and social action. He is a founding member of Rabbis for Human Rights and teaches at the Hebrew Union College.
Rabbi Dudley Weinberg (1915-1976) graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1941. He attended chaplain school at Harvard University and served in the Army for two years during WWII in New Guinea and the Philippines, receiving the Bronze Star and the rank of Major. Weinberg was instrumental in organizing one of the largest Passover Seders ever held in the Philippines shortly after the liberation of the country by United States armed forces. He was also involved in raising money for the rebuilding of the synagogue in Manila that had been demolished by the Japanese. Weinberg was senior rabbi at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts from 1946 to 1955, before becoming senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1955 until his death in 1976. In 1949, Weinberg was chosen to give the prayer for the dedication of the carillon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. with President Harry Truman in attendance. He served on the Executive Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, was a trustee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and was chairman of the CCAR-UAHC Joint Commission on Worship and chairman of the UAHC, HUC-JIR, and CCAR Platform Committee. Weinberg formed the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, was lecturer in Judaic Studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, and was chair of the Rabbinical Advisory Committee of the United Jewish Appeal. He also worked for the rights of Soviet Jews as well as for equal housing and racial equality in Milwaukee. (Adapted from the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee)
Ezra Weinberg is Jewish life and enrichment manager at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood, New York. Rabbi Ezra received his BA from Hampshire College in 1999 and his MA in Conflict Transformation from the School for International Training in 2003. He also spent seven years in Israel, adding a strong Israeli flavor to his brand of Jewish education. Ezra is a trained facilitator in having difficult conversations on the topic of Israel. Having received rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2009, Ezra spent four years as a congregational Rabbi, including two years as the Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City. Since then he has pursued his passion for working with youth including two years as the Assistant Director at Eden Village Camp.
Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg (1937-1999) was the fifth senior rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation (Washington, DC). Born in Chicago, Weinberg graduated from Northwestern University and immediately entered Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Following his ordination in 1963, he served as assistant rabbi at a San Francisco congregation before coming to Washington. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma and was arrested twice, and in Washington, played a leading role in efforts to improve racial relations and fight poverty. He helped start Ya’chad, a Jewish organization promoting affordable city housing and Carrie Simon House, a transitional home for unmarried mothers in Northwest Washington. He was also a fervent supporter of Israel and campaigned for years to help Soviet Jews emigrate.
Josh Weinberg is, director of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College's Israel Program. In 2003, he made aliyah to Israel. He serves as a reserve officer in the spokesperson’s unit of the Israel Defense Force and is currently enrolled in the Israeli rabbinical program at Hebrew Union College. Weinberg has been an active educator and guide for the Reform movement in Israel, with experience in both the informal and formal education sectors in Israel. He has taught and lectured widely about Israel and Jewish identity throughout Israel, the United States and Europe.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations, Hebrew literature and political science from the University of Wisconsin and received a Master of Arts from the Melton Center of Jewish Education at Hebrew University. He was born and raised in Chicago. Weinberg loves politics, the environment and the outdoors, Jewish texts, and everything having to do with Israel. He is married to Mara Sheftel Getz; they are the proud parents of Noa.
Rabbi Bernard "Dov Zev" Weinberger (d. 2018) was from the mid to late 20th century, rabbi of Young Israel of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the 1960s, he was the only Orthodox Jewish member of the New York City Council Against Poverty. In 1967, he was elected president of the Rabbinical Alliance. From 1972-1974, he was appointed to a special Human Resources Administrtaion post under NYC Mayor John V. Lindsay. He authored Sefer Shem Tov al haTorah.
Stuart Weinblatt is an ordained rabbi and the President of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America. He is the senior rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland. He and his wife founded the Conservative synagogue in 1988 with only a handful of families. The congregation’s membership is now over 650 families. Rabbi Weinblatt also served as Director of Israel Policy and Advocacy for the Rabbinical Assembly starting in 2009 and was tapped by the Jewish National Fund to head up and organize their "Rabbis for Israel" affinity group.
Rabbi Martin Weiner is the rabbi emeritus of Sherith Israel, San Francisco, California. He undertook his rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he earned his ordination and a master of arts in Hebrew letters in 1964. Following his ordination, Rabbi Weiner was assistant, associate and co-rabbi at Temple Oheb Shalom of Baltimore, Maryland. While there, he served as chair of the Baltimore chapter of the American Jewish Committee, was on the state board of the ACLU and taught Jewish Religious Thought at Goucher College. Rabbi Weiner joined Congregation Sherith Israel as senior rabbi in 1972. He energized the congregation during his 31-year tenure at Sherith Israel, attracting many new members. Known throughout the community for his quest for social justice, particularly in the areas of civil rights, human rights and Soviet Jewry, Rabbi Weiner was a member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission for many years. Rabbi Weiner served as President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), Reform Judaism's professional rabbinical association. Previously he had served as an officer and as a CCAR board member. He currently chairs the CCAR’s ethics process review committee and is a longstanding member of the Reform Pension Board. He also served on the editorial committee for the Reform movement’s new prayer book, Mishkan T’filah. In San Francisco, he has been on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation, the American Jewish Committee and Jewish Family and Children's Services. Rabbi Weiner has also served as president of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and as chair of the San Francisco Interfaith Council. He has been honored by the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress.
Dr. Susan Weingarten is an archaeologist and historian who was formerly in the research team of the Sir Isaac Wolfson Chair for Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel. After publishing The Saint’s Saints: Hagiography and Geography in Jerome (2005), she decided to move from ascetic Christianity to Jewish food.
Rabbi Jay Weinstein is rabbi at Young Israel of East Brunswick, New Jersey having previously served as assistant rabbi at Congregation Shaare Tefilla in Dallas and program coordinator for the Community Kollel of Dallas. He received his ordination from Yeshiva University.
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, CSW, is the Rabbinic Director of the National Center for Jewish Healing and the New York Jewish Healing Center.
Rabbi Elimelekh Weisblum of Lizhensk (1717–March 11, 1787), one of the great founding Rebbes of the Ḥasidic movement, was known after his hometown, Leżajsk (Yiddish: ליזשענסק-Lizhensk) near Rzeszów in Poland. He was part of the inner "Chevraya Kadisha" (Holy Society) school of the Maggid Rebbe Dov Ber of Mezeritch (the pre-eminent student of the Baal Shem Tov and founder of the Ḥasidic movement). He became part of the third generation of leadership after the passing of Rebbe Dov Ber in 1772. Their spread to new areas of Eastern Europe led to the movement's rapid expansion. Rebbe Elimelekh authored the classic work Noam Elimelekh. The work developed the Hasidic theory of the Tsaddik into the full doctrine of so-called "Practical/Popular Tsaddikism". This shaped the social role of mystical leadership, characteristic of the "Mainstream Ḥasidic" path. As the founder of Ḥasidism in Poland-Galicia, his influence led to the emergence of numerous other leaders and dynasties out of the ranks of his disciples through the early 19th century. Among them, the Ḥozeh of Lublin, the Maggid of Koznitz, and Menachem Mendel of Rimanov (the three "Fathers of Polish Hasidism") furthered the spread of Tsaddikism in Poland. Because of this, Rebbi Elimelekh is venerated by the "Mainstream" path in Hasidism, especially among the Ḥassidim in Poland who descend from his influence.
Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss (Hebrew: אברהם חיים יוסף הכהן ווייס; born June 24, 1944) is an American Modern Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist. He is the Founding Rabbi and served as Senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (known as “the Bayit”) in New York. Since his retirement in 2015, he has served as the Rabbi-in-Residence. Rabbi Weiss is also the founding president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a rabbinical seminary for men that he refers to as "Open Orthodox", a term he coined to describe an offshoot of Modern Orthodoxy, and founder of Yeshivat Maharat for women; co-founder of the International Rabbinical Fellowship, an Open Orthodox rabbinical association founded as a liberal alternative to the Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization, Coalition for Jewish Concerns, AMCHA. In 2007, Rabbi Weiss was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America, describing him as “Orthodox’s leading activist and leader of the Modern Orthodox community.” He is the author of two books, Women at Prayer: A Halakhic Analysis of Women’s Prayer Groups, and Principles of Spiritual Activism.
Lauren Weiss is a lobbyist for an association of family planning health centers.
Rabbi Raysh Weiss PhD is the Rabbi of Congregation Beth El of Bucks County and is married to fellow rabbi and musician Jonah Rank, and they enjoy davening and dreaming with their two extraordinary kids.
Rabbi Jerome Weistrop (d. 2005) was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. He served Temple Shalom of Milton, Massachusetts. We know very little else about Rabbi Weistrop's life and career. If you know more and would like to add additional details, please contact us.
Gábor Weisz (b.1857 Albertirsa - d. 1943 Pécs) served his community as a teacher and as a herald of youth worship, secretary and deputy rabbi of the Ḥevrah Kadishah (1888–1889, 1914–1920). From his settlement in Pécs he was the secretary of the community (1888–1943). He completed his rabbinical studies in the yeshiva of Hőgyész (Tolna m.), Dr. Ármin Perls in Pécs he continued his education in the theological sciences alongside the chief rabbi. He published Rachel, a prayer book for women (1883) and A Textbook for the History of the Jewish People for Israelite students in folk and civil schools. He was a member of the editorial board of the Jewish Lexicon. He compiled and published a list of his master's literary work, Memory of Ármin Perls, and wrote the history of the community of Pécs: The monograph of the Jewish community of Pécs (1929). In his work Visiting the Jewish Cemetery in Pécs, he remembered the famous personalities resting in the Jewish cemetery.
Miriam Wertheimer (fl. mid-19th c.) was a pioneering English translator of teḥinot in Birmingham, England, and a direct descendant of Akiba Israel Wertheimer (1778–1835) was the first Chief Rabbi of Altona and Schleswig-Holstein. We know very little else about her save that she translated a collection of teḥinot in German into English that was published in 1852. She was a friend of Hester Rothschild who translated another collection of teḥinot and paraliturgical prayers. If you know more about Miriam Wertheimer, please contact us.
Wolfgang (Wolf) Wessely (1801-1870) born in Trebitsch, Moravia was an Austrian jurist and theologian; founder of the first institute devoted to Wissenschaft des Judentums. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Prague to prepare himself for the rabbinate, graduating as Ph.D. in 1828, and as LL.D. in 1833. In 1831 he was appointed teacher of religion at the gymnasium, and in 1837 at the Jewish congregational school; in 1846 he received permission to lecture on Hebrew and rabbinical literature at the University of Prague. In the meantime he had made himself known by contributions to juristic literature; and when, in 1848, trial by jury was introduced into Austria, the minister of justice sent him on a mission through France, Rhenish Prussia, Holland, and Belgium to study the legal methods employed in these countries. In the following year he was appointed privat-docent of jurisprudence at the University of Prague; in 1852 he was made assistant professor; and in 1861 he was appointed ordinary professor, being the first Austrian Jew to hold such a position.In addition to contributions to periodicals, Wessely was the author of the following works: Wer Ist nach den Grundsätzen des Oesterreichischen Rechts zur Vornahme einer Jüdischen Trauung Befugt? (Prague, 1839); Netib Emunah (ib. 1840; 8th ed. 1863), a catechism; Tefillat Yisrael (1841) a bilingual Hebrew-German prayerbook; Ueber die Gemeinschaftlichkeit der Beweismittel im Oesterreichischen Civilprocesse (ib. 1844); and Die Befugnisse des Nothstands und der Nothwehr nach Oesterreichischem Rechte (ib. 1862). As a theologian he had strong rationalistic tendencies; and he explains Bat Ḳol as being the voice of conscience (Isidor Busch, Jahrbuch, iii. 229).
Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.
John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the Fireside Poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings as well as his book Snow-Bound.
Rabbi Dr. Robert S. Widom is Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel of Great Neck, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University in history and philosophy. He was ordained at the New York school of the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where he received an earned doctorate for his work in explicating a little-known area of Polish-Jewish history. He was invited to join the faculty of the School of Education of the Hebrew Union College, and taught history and philosophy. He currently serves on the Town of North Hempstead’s Board of Ethics, a position he has held since April 15, 1975. Several years ago, Rabbi Widom organized an association of faith partners composed of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim groups.
Since July 2008, Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn has served as the spiritual leader of The Conservative Synagogue. He is also Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis, a member of the Executive Council of the Rabbinical Assembly, sits on the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Masorti Foundation, serves on the Board of Directors of MERCAZ USA, and is a Regional Board Member of ADL and National Council Member of AIPAC. Since 2011, he has served as the President of the Interfaith Clergy Association of Westport and Weston. Prior to The Conservative Synagogue, Rabbi Wiederhorn served for eight years as the first full-time rabbi of Midbar Kodesh Temple in Henderson, Nevada where he helped grow the young congregation to 300 families, started a Hevra Kadisha, and helped create the Solomon Schechter Day School of Las Vegas. Born in Michigan and raised in Southern California, the rabbi earned a BA in Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego. He also received a Masters in Hebrew Letters from the University of Judaism and another MA with his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York.
Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian, linguist, author and translator.
Rabbi Rallis Wiesenthal works to preserve Orthodox German Jewish customs. He received Semicha from Jews' College (The London School of Jewish Studies) in London, England in 1994. A graduate of Yeshivat Beis HaMidrash LaTorah (Hebrew Theological College), and the Oscar Z. Fasman Yeshiva High School in Skokie, Illinois. He lives in West Rogers Park with his wife and their four sons.
Wikisource is a collaborative transcription site and part of the family of user-generated content sites administered by the Wikimedia Foundation. The Open Siddur Project uses Wikisource for collaborative transcription by taking advantage of the Proofread Page MediaWiki extension installed as a feature for public use. For detailed attribution information for any text, please refer to the "View History" link on specific Wikisource pages.
Dr. John Paul Williams (1900-1973) was chairman of the department of religion at Mount Holyoke College. In 1946, he served as president of the National Association of Biblical Instructors (now known as the American Academy of Religion). He wrote What Americans Believe and How They Worship (1952, revised 1962) containing the chapter "Judaism -- the Mother Institution." Together with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Eugene Kohn he co-authored the anthology of civic prayers, Faith in America (1951).
Ilene Winn-Lederer is a Pittsburgh-based Jewish artist in the United States. Originally from Chicago, she attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. A member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, Winn-Lederer’s clients have included The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Hadassah, NY, Lilith Magazine, Children’s Television Workshop, Scholastic, Charlesbridge Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Cricket Magazine. Her drawings and paintings are included in public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Israel. These are published under her imprint, Imaginarius Editions. She is the author and illustrator of Between Heaven & Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary (Pomegranate, 2009). In 2014, Ilene published An Illumination Of Blessings, the result of a successfully funded Kickstarter project.is It is a collection of thirty-six illustrated blessings with detailed commentaries that are drawn from the Jewish tradition of Me’ah Berakhot (100 Blessings). The illustrations include calligraphy in Hebrew and English, an artist’s preface and introduction by renowned Judaic scholar Marc Michael Epstein. In 2015, Imaginarius Editions released Notes From London: Above & Below, a collection of annotated illustrations drawn from pocket journals maintained during her visits there between 2002-2009.
Isaac Mayer Wise (29 March 1819, Steingrub (now Lomnička, Czech Republic), Austrian Empire – 26 March 1900, Cincinnati), was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author. At his death he was called "the foremost rabbi in America."
Rabbi Saul Israel Wisemon (1934-?) was a rabbi who served pulpits in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Unfortunately, we know very little about his life and career besides his arrest in 1983. “Police said a warehouse rented by a rabbi contained more than 10,000 allegedly stolen religious books and microfilms that had disappeared from schools, libraries and synagogues throughout the Northeast,” the Associated Press reported from Vineland, New Jersey on May 5, 1983. “The discovery was made in an investigation of Rabbi Saul Wisemon. . . . Authorities want to question Wisemon about the disappearance of a Torah—a valuable hand-written scroll of Jewish law—from a Bridgeton temple.” (as quoted by Howard Mortman in When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill (2021), p. 253.) If you know more about the life and career of Rabbi Wisemon and would like to add to this short bio, please contact us.
Jeffrey A. Wohlberg is the retired senior rabbi of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC, and a past president of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Jewish rabbis.
Immanuel Wohlwill (originally Immanuel Wolf; August 28, 1799 - March 2, 1847) was a Jewish educator and part of the early Wissenschaft das Judentum movement.
Aaron Wolf is a math and computer science teacher in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Jewish Vegetarian Society in Jerusalem runs Zangvil, the Ginger Vegetarian Community Center on 8 Balfour Street. The Society was founded in Jerusalem in 1991 by the late Philip L. Pick, as a counterpart to the Jewish Vegetarian Society in London. Ever since, it worked to promote animal welfare and plant based diets.
Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields is executive director for the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism.
David Wolkin is a writer and an educator. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with his partner Keeli, their cats RoboCop and Phineas, and their dog Waffles.
David J. Wolpe (born 1958) is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California. He previously taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and UCLA. Wolpe’s work has been profiled in the New York Times, and he is a columnist for Time.com, he regularly writes for many publications, including The LA Times, the Washington Post’s On Faith website, The Huffington Post, and the New York Jewish Week. He has been on television numerous times, including the Today Show, Face the Nation, ABC this Morning, and CBS This Morning. In addition, Wolpe has been featured in series on PBS, A&E, the History channel, and the Discovery channel. Wolpe is the author of eight books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times and David: The Divided Heart, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award (2014).
Founded in 1919, Women of Miẓpah was the sisterhood organization of Temple Mizpah, the first Reform congregation in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois, led by Angie Irma Cohon. (Her husband, Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon, was the spiritual leader of the Temple.) The name is derived from the place name given in Genesis 31 in the context of Yaaqov leaving the settlement of Lavan, with Lavan recognizing the independence of his daughters in Genesis 31:43. Other Jewish women's sisterhoods have used this name including at Hebrew Union College, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Alexandra Wright is a British Liberal rabbi who was appointed as the first female senior rabbi in England in 2004, as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London. She is President of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom. Wright became the seventh woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United Kingdom in 1986; she was ordained at Leo Baeck College, and has taught classical Hebrew there. She served as Associate Rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue from 1986 until 1989. She then served as Rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 1989 until 2003.
Copyleft
