Rabbi Susan Leider is the first woman to be a senior rabbi at a Northern California Conservative congregation, (Congregation Kol Shofar) and the first woman to be Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles. She was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.

Now a clergy coach, scholar-in-residence and visiting spiritual leader, she is a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) Clergy Leadership Program, and leads IJS virtual daily meditations, which reach over 200 participants. As a consultant partner, she guides Jewish organizations with Insyte Partners, an international transformation consultancy.

She currently serves as a co-chair for the national J Street Rabbinical and Cantorial Cabinet and was a leader on the Clergy Council of Roots, a unique network of Palestinians and Israelis living in the West Bank. For the One America Movement, she co-led a panel discussion for multifaith clergy about the painful and difficult conversation in the US about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

As a past board member of the Industrial Areas Foundation, she helped to galvanize the nation’s largest network of local faith and community-based organizations. With Avodah, she co-led a sermon preparation session for clergy to centralize justice in their offerings. She is a member of the Executive Council and the Joint Placement Commission for the Rabbinical Assembly, and is an active participant in their Racial Justice and Progressive Zionists Groups.