Denise Eger

Who is Denise Eger?

Denise L. Eger is an American Reform rabbi.

She was ordained in 1988 at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College, following which she served as the first full-time rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim in Los Angeles, the world's first gay and lesbian synagogue recognized by Reform Judaism. In 1992, she and 35 other people founded Congregation Kol Ami, a synagogue intended to serve both gay and non-gay Jews in West Hollywood, California.

Eger completed her undergraduate degree in Religion at the University of Southern California. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 2008 Rabbi Eger was named one of the Forward 50; one of the fifty most influential Jews in North America for her work in GLBT rights. In the summer of 2010 she was named one of the fifty most influential women rabbis.

Rabbi Eger officiated at the wedding of activists Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, on June 16, 2008.

She previously served as the chair of the Search Alliance Institutional Review Board and Treasurer of the Women's Rabbinic Network, and is a past president of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. She chaired the Gay and Lesbian Rabbinic Network of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and is past chair of the Task Force on Gays and Lesbians in the Rabbinate. She is a founding member of the Religion and Faith Council of the Human Rights Campaign and a founding executive committee member of California Faith for Equality .