New York, NY

Rabbi Rachel Cowan is Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), an organization that works with rabbis, cantors, educators and lay leaders to deepen the spiritual dimension of contemporary Judaism.  She served as the Executive Director of IJS from 2004-2011. From 1990-2003 she was Program Director for Jewish Life at the New York based Nathan Cummings Foundation, where she oversaw approximately $4 million in annual grantmaking. Rabbi Cowan has been widely published in many books and publications including Growing Up Yanqui and Mixed Blessings (the latter with Paul Cowan). In 2007 and 2012 she was selected as one of the 50 most influential rabbis by Newsweek magazine, and in 2010 was chosen as one of the 50 most influential women rabbis by the Forward. Her two children and three grandchildren live in New York City and are a source of great joy to her.