Our Rabbi
Rabbi Kort is serving her seventh year as spiritual leader of Temple Beth Or. What she appreciates most about Temple Beth Or is that we are a community that shows up for one another to offer comfort and care in hard times and to celebrate joyful events and achievements. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Rabbi Kort grew up in the north end of Seattle and feels lucky to be able to live and raise her ten-year-old daughter, Galit, close to her mom, sister, and niblings. She also feels blessed to be a part of an extended Jewish family through Temple Beth Or.
Rabbi Kort has spent the past 25 years immersed in Jewish learning, teaching and leadership, and has served as a congregational rabbi for fifteen years. Rabbi Kort shares her wisdom and perspective, but her overall goal as a rabbi is to empower individuals to take the lead in their Jewish lives. She values and honors that each individual’s and family’s Jewish journey looks different.
Her passions and interests include:
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Creative spiritual practices through art and music. Rabbi Kort nourishes her soul through the Jewish Studio Project and Hadar’s Rising Song Institute.
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Community engagement. Rabbi Kort helps connect our community through interfaith efforts, serves on the Everett Police Chief’s community commission, and recently participated in the City of Everett’s Drug Crisis Task Force.
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Celebrating diversity and creating an inclusive community. Rabbi Kort has a mild physical disability, wears leg braces, and loves going bike riding through the adaptive sports foundation, Outdoors for All.
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Spending quality time with her ten-year-old, Galit. They enjoy singing together in the Seattle based Klezmer orchestra, Klez Kidz, slowly making their way through learning the 2nd century text Pirkei Avot using the traditional Hebrew and a graphic novel version, and watching the Simpsons.
Rabbi Kort received Masters degrees in Hebrew Literature and Religious Education and was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Also through HUC-JIR, Rabbi Kort is a Mandel Fellow, which has provided her with intensive study in vision-driven institutions and leadership.
After receiving her BA in Jewish History from New York University, she volunteered as an emissary with the Jewish Agency for Israel in St. Petersburg, Russia and since has served Jewish communities all over the world including Ukraine, India, Central Pennsylvania and Queens, New York.
Before coming to Temple Beth Or, Rabbi Kort served as Co-Rabbi of Temple Beth El, a 570-household congregation located in South Orange County, California. Beth El is one of a handful of congregations in the country dually-affiliated with the Reform and Conservative Movements. In 2010, upon ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, Temple Beth El hired Rabbi Kort to serve as Assistant Rabbi and Director of Jewish Engagement, overseeing supplementary education at the synagogue. In 2016, Beth El promoted her to Co-Rabbi, sharing full rabbinic responsibilities with a rabbinic partner who was ordained through the Conservative Movement.
With a strong background in transformational change and visionary leadership, Rabbi Kort has introduced innovative programming to the synagogues she has served in the areas of experiential education, b’nai mitzvah, and relational engagement through Small Groups. These programs, all created in partnership with lay leadership, have been nationally recognized for their excellence by the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, and HUC-JIR. More than an institutional change agent, Rabbi Kort’s congregants appreciate her warmth, caring nature, and empowering leadership style.
Rabbi Kort invites you to call upon her for help or support, or just to talk.
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