Our rabbi emeritus

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah served BHPS from 2000-2021 and is now our much-valued rabbi emeritus.

A graduate of the London School of Economics and a lesbian feminist, Rabbi Elli entered Leo Baeck College in 1984 and was ordained as a rabbi in 1989, becoming the first lesbian in the world to lead a mainstream congregation.

A pioneer in the area of LGBTQ+ inclusion and same-sex marriage, putting this commitment at the heart of their work as a congregational rabbi, Rabbi Elli is also deeply committed to promoting human rights, social justice, interfaith dialogue, Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, and tikkun olam (repair of the world), and has written extensively on all these themes.

Author of Trouble-Making Judaism (David Paul Books, 2012), Rabbi Elli has also edited/ co-edited five books and contributed dozens of articles and poems to various journals and anthologies.

Rabbi Elli adopted the middle name Tikvah in 1998 because: “My journey has taught me that whatever the challenges and obstacles we face, individually and collectively, we must embrace hope (in Hebrew, tikvah).”

Rabbi Elli’s website can be found here.