Interview: Of Cultural Deference. A Conversation with Rabbi Tanya Segal, Poland's First Female Rabbi — Warsaw, 12 July 2008

Abstract

Rabbi Tanya Segal leads the progressive reform congregation Beit Warszawa and is currently engaged in rebuilding the infrastructure for the renewal of progressive Judaism in Poland. She also works as a travelling Rabbi in other cities in Poland, determined to help develop a meaningful dialogue in the revival of Polish-Jewish culture. Rabbi Tanya Segal, the first female Rabbi in the entire history of Poland, shares her life’s experiences and work in an interview with Rohee Dasgupta. Beginning as a dramatist and actor in Moscow’s Yiddish theatre she talks about the transitions in her own Jewish identity as she ‘made Aliyah’ to Israel for seventeen years and her motivation behind combining education, religion and culture to create value in society.