Sharon Kleinbaum

Sharon Kleinbaum (born 1959) is an American Rabbi who serves as spiritual leader of New York City's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. She was installed as CBST's first rabbi in 1992, arriving at the height of the AIDS crisis when the synagogue was in desperate need of pastoral care and spiritual leadership. She is a prominent advocate for human rights. She graduated from Barnard College and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she was ordained. While at Barnard College, she led protests against Barnard's investments in South Africa and against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. She has two daughters.In 1995 Rabbi Kleinbaum, along with Rabbi Margaret Wenig and Russell Pearce, sent a resolution asking for support for civil marriage for gay couples to the Reform movement's Commission on Social Action; when it was approved by them, Wenig submitted it to the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which approved it in 1996. Rabbi Kleinbaum served on Mayor Bloomberg's Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Runaway and Homeless Youth and New York Police Department's LGBT Advisory Committee (2009-2010). Rabbi Kleinbaum has also served on Mayor de Blasio's Transition Committee (2013-2014), and President Obama's the U.S Department of State's Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group Sub-working Group on Social Justice (2014). She is currently a Commissioner on New York City's Commission on Human Rights, and serves on Mayor de Blasio's Faith Based Advisory Council.