Biography

Rabbi Rebecca Lillian joined Beth Or in July 2004. Born and raised in Chicago, she is a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. After pursuing a career in education, Rabbi Lillian received her ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1995. Living in Israel for two years during the mid-1990s kindled her deep love for the land, the people, the language, and the varied cultures of Israel.

Before coming to Beth Or, Rabbi Lillian held several positions at congregations and on college campuses, including Mount Holyoke, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges. She has taught Jewish Studies at the university level and at various synagogues and community centers in the U.S. and Israel. Since arriving in Miami, Rabbi Lillian has been teaching for the Melton Adult Education program through CAJE at the Jewish Federation of Greater Miami.

Rabbi Lillian is excited by Miami's cultural mosaic. Learning languages is a hobby of hers and she is proficient in five of them. She has served as visiting rabbi at congregations in Denmark, Moscow, Prague, Vilnius and London and loves to visit Jewish communities all over the world, especially those which lack the opportunity to learn about liberal forms of Judaism. While participating in a summer Yiddish program, she met her basherter, Jan Schwarz, a native of Denmark and scholar of Yiddish and Jewish literature.

Interfaith collaboration and social justice are two integral aspects of Rabbi Lillian's rabbinate. She was recently elected Vice President of South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice, and is involved with other social action work in the Miami area.

Speaking about being a congregational rabbi, Rabbi Lillian said, "I didn't want to become a congregational rabbi again until I found the sort of congregation that Jan and I would want to join, even if I were not the rabbi. We have found that in Beth Or."