Rabbi Sharon Brous

Rabbi Sharon Brous's vision in building IKAR was to build a Jewish community that would stand at the intersection of rich spiritual and religious practice and the pursuit of social justice. She was listed among the Forward's 50 most influential American Jews for three years in a row, and Newsweek has named her one of the leading rabbis in the country, and IKAR one of the nation's most vibrant congregations. In 2008, she received the Jewish Community Foundation's Inspired Leadership Award, recognizing her leadership, vision and impact in the Jewish community, and was one of Jewish Women International's 10 Jewish Women to Watch in 2009. Rabbi Brous was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001 and received a master's degree in human rights from Columbia University, where she also received her bachelor's degree. She served as a Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in NYC. Rabbi Brous was a guest on Krista Tippett's Speaking of Faith, and she lectures and writes frequently about new trends in American religious life, next generation engagement and social justice. She serves as a panelist and contributor to Newsweek and Washington Post's On Faith, and her writings appear in The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt, Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call to Justice, A Dream of Zion, The Women's Torah Commentary, and The Women's Haftarah Commentary, among other publications. Brous serves on the faculty of HUC and REBOOT, on the rabbinic advisory board of American Jewish World Service and on the regional council of Progressive Jewish Alliance. Brous lives in Los Angeles with her husband David Light and their three kids - Eva Gavriella, Sami Rafaela and Levi Heschel.