Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion (ajrsem.org) and the co-founder of the Kohenet Institute, a program in Jewish women's spiritual leadership (kohenet.org). Rabbi Hammer is a midrashist, a ritualist, and the author of several books including The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons (Jewish Publication Society, 2006) and The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women's Spiritual Leadership (Ben Yehuda Press, 2015). She has been exploring the stories of biblical women since her college days and continues to discover new layers of their legends and lives. Her literary writing and academic work has been published in journals and newspapers such as Zeek Magazine, Lilith Magazine, The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Natural Bridge, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, Nashim, and The Forward, and on-line at ritualwell.org, myjewishlearning.com, and other websites. Rabbi Hammer was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001 and holds a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut. She received a BA at Brandeis University. She lives in Manhattan with her partner Shoshana Jedwab and her daughter Raya Leela.
