In the summer of 2006, Alana Alpert realized that she wanted to act as a bridge between the social justice world and the faith world.
Alana had just completed her year as a Corps Member working at New York Jobs With Justice, where she organized clergy throughout New York City to take on the cause of workers’ rights. As she spent her year studying social change through a Jewish lens with us, Alana came to understand that she could engage in serious social justice work from a position of religious leadership.
This moment led Alana to rabbinical school at Hebrew College, while she continued to organize communities for change on a range of causes, including prison reform, human rights issues in Hebron, and the LGBTQ community. She embraced her spiritual training as a path to avoid burnout in her work, which inspired her to develop a project named “Like a Burning Bush: Jewish Practice for Activists.”
Today, Rabbi Alpert lives in Detroit at the intersection of faith and action, fulfilling the dream she discovered in Avodah. She’s taken a unique approach to her work, serving as the rabbi at Congregation T’chiyah while organizing with Detroit Jews for Justice, which she cofounded. Alana is organizing Jews in Metro Detroit to engage in movements for racial and economic justice, and truly continuing the work that she started with us more than 10 years ago.
Take it from her: “I can’t imagine my career happening without Avodah. I was empowered to do serious work at my placement right out of college, I gained skills for leadership and self-care that sustain my work, and I joined a Jewish community that continues to nourish and support me.”