Rabbi Laura Schwartz Harari was ordained in 2008, having completed her rabbinical studies on the Los Angeles campus of The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Prior to her rabbinical studies, Laura filled a variety of roles, formal and informal, within Jewish education, for over twenty-five years. She has been Assistant Director of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, URJ, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin; a member of the faculty of the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa Israel; an educational docent for the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv and the Educational Director of the Coalition for Jewish Learning (the central agency for Jewish education) in Milwaukee. Most recently, Laura served as Director of Jewish Living and Learning at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Laura has been a Board Member of the National Association of Temple Educators, and, while on the Board, co-chaired the Committee for Evaluation of the Educator. She received the title of Reform Jewish Educator (RJE) in 1991. Laura is the author of the Hebrew Phrases Curriculum, in the Reconstructionist National Curriculum Guide.
During her rabbinical studies Laura served Temple B’nai Israel in Amarillo, Texas, the Hillel at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Temple Beth Hillel in North Hollywood, California. She also completed a year as a Pastoral Intern at UCLA Medical Center through the Kalsman Institute for Judaism and Health at HUC-JIR.
While in rabbinical school, Laura received the Morris and Minnie Raphael Memorial Prize for outstanding service to a small congregation.
Laura is married to Rabbi Ze'ev Harari. Ze'ev was the second Israeli to be ordained by HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. Laura and Ze'ev have a daughter, Rabbi Carmit Harari, who currently serves Temple Beth Ora in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Laura's primary passion is helping others find meaning in being Jewish. She feels that the rabbinate is an excellent avenue for this. Her other passions include folk singing, guitar playing and Israeli folk dance.
