Rabbi Rachel Gartner
Director Jewish Chaplaincy
Healy 111
Rabbi Rachel Gartner was drawn to Georgetown University for many reasons. Perhaps the most of which is the university’s commitment to “centered pluralism.”
I deeply appreciate the way in which community members from all backgrounds are encouraged to stand confidently in their own identities, while both acknowledging and reaching across differences to embrace the whole of the human community as we work together for justice and peace.
A graduate Barnard College, and of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College just outside of Philadelphia, PA, and born and raised in NY, Rabbi Gartner finds Georgetown and D.C. an invigorating, and exciting place to be. Her son Reuben agrees and also loves the Air and Space Museum. Rabbi Gartner’s spouse, author David Ebenbach, enjoys teaching Creative Writing at Georgetown and GW and comparing local teams to his native Philadelphia teams. (No further comment on that.) On being at Georgetown, Rabbi Gartner says:
Students’ passion, intensity, searching and smarts are remarkable to be around. Their Jewish questions and life questions keep me growing as a rabbi, a Jew, and a human being. Judaism as a rich source of guidance and support for college students as they discern who they are and who they are becoming, and come to discover their place in the world, and their distinct role in improving it. It is a privilege to work with students at such a powerful time in their lives.
Rabbi Gartner enjoys facilitating meaningful Jewish experiences of all kinds, and accompanying students in the deepening of their inner life, and their connection to Jewish life. She is deeply committed to interfaith dialogue, community-building and service work.
Rabbi Gartner loves: the arts of just about every kind (though there’s a sweet spot in her heart for modern dance); chocolate and bagels, though not combined; and, she’s a huge coffee fan – but a purist, no flavoring.
She encourages you to come by her office in Healy 111 for a cup and conversation anytime.
Before turning her sights on campus work, Rabbi Gartner was a pulpit rabbi for four years; served as a chaplain for Jewish aging and elderly; was part of a rabbinic team at NYC’s Conservative synagogue Bnai Jeshurun.
She is a member of American Jewish World Service First Rabbinic Delegation and serves on the Board of the Reconstructonist Rabbinical Association.
Rabbi Gartner is the co-author of the Moving Tradition’s transdenominational nationally acclaimed, Rosh Hodesh: It’s A Girl Thing Sourcebook.
Deborah Reichmann JD, MPH
Jewish Chaplaincy/Hillel
Healy G-01
Deborah Reichmann is part of the professional staff for the Jewish Chaplaincy/Hillel. She received both her undergraduate degree and her law degree from