Helen Bar-Yaacov

Helen Bar-Yaacov is an Uzbekistani-born American rabbi. She is the first ordained female rabbi in West Virginia (though there had been female student rabbis serving before being ordained previous to Bar-Yaacov's service.)^[1] She began serving in West Virginia in 2002 at Temple Israel in Charleston.

From 2008 until 2013 she was the rabbi of Evansville's Temple Adath B'nai Israel.^[2]

Bar-Yaacov was born in Uzbekistan, since her parents had fled Poland during World War II to escape the persecution of the Jews there.^[3]

She grew up in Germany and Australia, and lived in Israel as a young woman, working as a tour guide and a teacher there.^[4] She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2002.^[5]

References

1. Calling brings female rabbi to state: Bar-Yaakov first woman to lead W.Va. synagogue Charleston Daily Mail, retrieved Aug 9, 2002
2. Evansville's Temple Adath B'nai Israel searching for new rabbi Courier Press, retrieved June 22, 2012
3. A journey of celebration Courier Press, retrieved August 23, 2008
4. "Temple B'nai Adath Israel Official Site". Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
5. A Symposium: "Women and Leadership" Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine West Virginia University at Parkersburg, retrieved April 26, 2006