Rabbi Ruth Adar

Rabbi Adar brings her experience as a lecturer, teacher, and community organizer to HaMaqom. She is a testament to what HaMaqom was established to do: advance life-long Jewish learning and develop the next generation of Jewish leaders. Rabbi Adar began her own studies with HaMaqom (then Lehrhaus) in 1995, studies that inspired her to become an ordained rabbi in the Reform movement in 2008.

She has been an educator at HaMaqom teacher since 2009 and is particularly well-known for her “Introduction to the Jewish Experience” series of classes. Rabbi Adar was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, with a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 2008. She completed a Master of Arts in Religious Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She also received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Minors in History and Education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Ruth has served as a rabbi in several congregations, including Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, NV and Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf in Tarzana, CA. Many in the Bay Area know her best as the “Coffee Shop Rabbi,” a program she started in 2008 to reach out to non-affiliated Jews and others who are curious about Judaism.

Rabbi Adar has published on the topics of the Jewish Ethics of Money and on Conversion to Judaism, and writes quarterly divrei Torah for the CCAR Newsletter.