Shabbat Starts Here Featuring Rabbi Judy Schindler

Rabbi Judith Schindler is the Sklut Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte. She was named Rabbi Emerita of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina after serving as Senior Rabbi from 2003-2016 and as Associate Rabbi from 1998-2003. Prior to coming to Charlotte, she was an Associate Rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.

She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Tufts University in 1988 (magna cum laude), her Master’s from the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles in 1993, and her rabbinic ordination at the Hebrew Union College in New York in 1995. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.

Rabbi Schindler serves on the Executive Committee of the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, is a member of the Israel + Reform Zionism Committee (formerly ARZA), and is a Trustee of the Reform Pension Board. She is past co-chair of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, served on the Board of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Coalition for Housing, and served as co-chair of the Clergy Council of MeckMin (Charlotte’s interfaith organization).

On behalf of Temple Beth El, Rabbi Schindler envisioned and led the creation of three Telly award-winning social justice documentaries

addressing diversity in schools, urban education and affordable housing.

She co-authored Recharging Judaism: How Civic Engagement is Good for Synagogues, Jews, and America (CCAR Press, 2018) which focuses on recharging congregations through civic engagement and moving the religious community from volunteerism to advocacy. Recharging Judaism was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. She was a 2017-2018 contributing columnist for the Charlotte Observer and delivered a TEDxCharlotte talk in 2018 entitled “Mastering the Art of Loving your Neighbor.”

Rabbi Schindler is married to Chip Wallach, who works for Bank of America. They have two sons, Maxwell and Alec. She is the daughter of the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler who was president of the Union for Reform Judaism 1973-1995.