Rabbi Julie Bressler serves as the Associate Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Oakland. She is an East Bay native who grew up in the Reform movement as an active member of Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, a camper and staff member at URJ Camp Newman, and a NFTY and Midrasha participant. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and received her Rabbinic Ordination and Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.
Judaism’s emphasis on activism and community engagement connected Rabbi Bressler to Judaism from a young age and continues to inspire and inform her professional work as a rabbi and personal volunteer and advocacy efforts. She is particularly passionate about justice issues surrounding gender and sexual identities, including spearheading efforts to train seminary students to be better prepared to support survivors of sexual-based violence in their communities. As a rabbi in Boston, she partnered with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization working on issues of housing and immigration justice in particular, including resettling multiple refugee families from Afghanistan and Ukraine in the Boston area. At Temple Sinai, Rabbi Bressler oversees the social action and social justice engagement, including committees that focus on climate, reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and more.
