Rabbi Debra Cantor

Debra Sue Cantor (born June 11, 1955) is a Conservative rabbi currently serving as the spiritual leader of Congregation B'nai Tikvoh-Sholom in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Biography

Born and raised in Ellington, Connecticut, Cantor attended Brandeis University before seeking semikha (rabbinic ordination) at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative Movement's hub of education. At the time, however, women were not admitted to the rabbinic ordination program.

in 1983, after years of advocacy, the JTS faculty senate voted in favor of giving semikha to women. Cantor began her studies, and graduated in 1988 as part of the first class to include women. She served as valedictorian and class speaker at her graduation ceremony.

Cantor then went on to serve as rabbi for the Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn, the first Conservative synagogue in New York to to hire a woman rabbi.

After leaving Kane Street, Cantor served as executive director of Camp Ramah in New England and as an education and synagogue consultant for the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Boston and Adjunct Lecturer at Hebrew College.

In 2003, Cantor moved back to her home state to serve at Congregation B'nai Sholom in Newington, Connecticut. In 2011, B'nai Sholom merged with Congregation Tikvoh Chadoshoh in Bloomfield, becoming B'nai Tikvoh-Sholom.

In 2013, Rabbi Cantor was arrested at the Western Wall with the feminist organization Women of the Wall. Her charges were wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) and singing loudly.

Cantor is active in interfaith work, serving in the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, which advocates for social justice issues in Hartford County.

Rabbi Cantor has been an active member of the Rabbinical Assembly, serving on numerous committees, and was the founding Chair of the Rabbinical Assembly's Task Force on Women. She has served for many years on the Rabbinical Assembly’s Va’ad HaKavod (Ethics Committee).

Cantor's husband, James Beede, is a registered nurse. They have two children, Max and Penina Beede.