Leah Trachtenberg (she/they) is a third-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College’s Los Angeles campus. They earned a BA at Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS) and Women, Gender, and Sexualities (WGS), along with minors in Social Justice/Social Policy (SJSP) and History. Her scholarship culminated in a thesis titled “Bunnies and Nachashim: Jews in Playboy Magazine,” which examined the intersections of Jewish identity and the American sexual imaginary.
After college, Leah served as the Jewish Community Advocate at Jewish Family Services in Milwaukee, WI, where they provided direct client support and facilitated community presentations on pressing issues such as domestic violence and antisemitism. Since beginning rabbinical school, they have drawn on her academic and professional background in her roles at B’nai Israel Synagogue in Grand Forks, ND, and Temple Beth Israel in Macon, GA.
