Tamar Elad-Appelbaum

Tamar Elad-Appelbaum was born in 1975

Elad-Appelbaum was born in Jerusalem in 1975 to a religious Zionist family and grew up in Ramot Eshkol. Her paternal grandfather came from Casablanca, and her maternal grandfather came from Delme in France. From a young age she wanted to study Talmud, which she began at Pelech high school in Jerusalem.

In the army she served as a soldier teacher at the Kfar Etzion field school. She then studied Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She continued at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, where she was ordained as a rabbi in 2005.

She led the Conservative congregation in Omer from 2005 to 2007 and later served communities in Tel Aviv and White Plains, New York. She became assistant dean at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in 2010. She co-founded a seminary for Israeli rabbis linked to the Shalom Hartman Institute.

She founded Kehilat Zion in Jerusalem, a community that combines Ashkenazi and Sephardic prayer traditions. She takes part in meetings between Jewish movements and with Muslims and Christians. She is married to Yossi.