Rabbi Janet Marder, a Los Angeles native, graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz and was ordained in 1979 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Following ordination, she pursued graduate studies in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA, specializing in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish. In 1983 she became the first ordained rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim, a Los Angeles synagogue with special outreach to lesbian and gay Jews. During her five years with that congregation, she founded NECHAMA, a Federation-funded program of AIDS education for the Jewish community . From 1988 to 1999 Rabbi Marder served the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, providing leadership and guidance to Reform synagogues in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas. In August, 1999 she became Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA. She has a special interest in creating meaningful, joyous and participatory worship services, and in helping to make Beth Am a warm and welcoming community. Rabbi Marder’s articles have appeared in Reform Judaism magazine, the Reconstructionist, Sh’ma and several anthologies. She was part of the core editorial team for Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe and contributed to Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh: A Guide to the CCAR Machzor. She is also co-editor of Mishkan HaLev: Prayers for S'lichot and the Month of Elul, a companion prayerbook to Mishkan HaNefesh. She has served as President of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, the first woman and the first non-congregational rabbi to be elected to that office. In 2003, she became President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the national Reform rabbinic organization, the first woman to serve in that capacity in the CCAR’s 114-year history. Rabbi Marder is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, having recently completed a three year course of study through the institute.
She is married to a colleague, Rabbi Sheldon Marder of the Jewish Home in San Francisco, and they are the parents of two daughters, Betsy and Rachel.
Rabbi Sheldon Marder earned a BA in English from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1971 and an MA in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institution of Religion in New York in 1975. He was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1978 and received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, in 2003. In 2007, he completed a four-year curriculum of Jewish studies and graduated with the title of Senior Rabbinic Fellow from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. He is currently the Rabbi and Department Head of Jewish Life at the Jewish Home of San Francisco. Rabbi Marder is the co-editor, translator, writer, and commentator of Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe, published by CCAR Press in 2015, as well as the co-editor of Mishkan HaLev: Prayers for S'lichot and the Month of Elul, a companion prayerbook to Mishkan HaNefesh. He is also the contributor to other publications, such as Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh: A Guide to the CCAR Machzor, published by CCAR Press in 2016; and CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Summer 2013 issue. Rabbi Marder developed several programs of note at the Jewish Home of San Francisco, such as the Art as Therapy program: a weekly art program in which short-term psychiatric patients reflect on great works of art; and Torah Talk: a gathering in which people with Alzheimer’s and related diseases explore Torah, poetry, and art for personal spiritual meaning. He was honored as Mentor of the Year by the Association of Jewish Aging Services in 2008.
