Rabbi Batya Glazer has been building relationships between the Jewish community and representatives of faith and ethnic communities through dialogue, working in coalition, and educational programming for years. She says she finds these relationships to be “an opportunity to listen deeply and develop an understanding of the concerns and the cultural context of diverse communities, including communities of color and faith” and looks forward to continuing with her passion for building community as the new director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Rabbi Glazer’s first official day is December 1.
Most recently serving as director of the JCRC in Philadelphia following 10 years at the JCRC of Greater Washington where she served as the director of government and interfaith relations in D.C. and Maryland, Glazer brings to Tidewater her experience representing the Jewish community’s perspective and concerns regarding the vital importance of opposing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism through conversations, educational programs, legislative advocacy, interfaith, and legislative missions to Israel. Glazer has been influential in educating and empowering the Jewish community to increase understanding of the nature of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism and the subtleties with which they are expressed to dispel harmful stereotypes and encourage awareness in the greater community.
Glazer has a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University, a Master of Hebrew Letters degree from The University of Judaism, and a Master’s degree and Rabbinic Ordination from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Rabbi Batya Glazer may be reached at BGlazer@ujft.org.