Gilah Kletenik

Gilah Kletenik
Kletenik, 2013
Nationality	American
Occupation	Congregational Scholar

Gilah Kletenik is a Jewish American scholar and religious leader.

Kletenik is an erstwhile congregational scholar at the Modern Orthodox Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. During her tenure at Kehilath Jeshurun, which concluded in 2014, Kletenik was among a few Orthodox women worldwide functioning as religious leaders. Kletenik has been a vocal advocate of advancing women as rabbis and clergy, notably suggesting as much in a public sermon. She has written about this position, which has been deemed controversial, in the Huffington Post. Kletenik has also written on political affairs, which she considers through a philosophical lens, most recently opining on ISIS in 3:AM Magazine. Working towards a more egalitarian Jewish leadership landscape, she is also a founder of the Orthodox Women’s Leadership Project.

The broader Jewish community has recognized her efforts. She is one of The Jewish Week’s “36 under 36”, an inaugural recipient of The Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize, and a Wexner Foundation Graduate Fellow.

Kletenik was the first female high-school-level Talmud teacher at the Ramaz School and has advocated for equality in Jewish learning. Kletenik has lectured and taught at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Mechon Hadar, JOFA, and the Drisha Institute.

Kletenik interned on Capitol Hill for Congressman Gary Ackerman.

In 2013, she was exhibited at the Jewish Museum Berlin in their controversial exhibit Jew in the Box.

In 2014, Kletenik was included on the list "radical Jews you really need to know."

Kletenik grew up in Seattle, Washington, where she attended the Seattle Hebrew Academy and later Northwest Yeshiva High School, from which she graduated in 2005.

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