Abstract
The Jewish festival of Passover celebrates liberation from slavery and the formation of a covenant that yields true freedom and responsibility. Rabbi Ruskay will explore how this festival, rooted in the sacred story of Exodus, can inspire people of different faith traditions to build strong and sustainable communities that foster freedom, justice, and peace.
Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay is the national education director at AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. Prior to receiving rabbinic ordination and a M.A. in Jewish education from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (2008), she was trained as an organizer by Jewish Funds for Justice and the Industrial Areas Foundation and served as program director for Face to Face/Faith to Faith, a multifaith youth leadership and conflict resolution program for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim youth from the Middle East, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and the United States run under the auspices of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. She also served as the associate director of education at American Jewish World Service and as a volunteer in Bulgaria for the Jewish Service Corps of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. She is a 1996 graduate of the Joint Program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University, with B.A. degrees in Talmud from JTS and European history from Columbia.