Leo Baeck College Ordains Rabbi Yael Tischler
Mazal tov to new Rabbi Yael Tischler who was ordained on Sunday 5th July 2026 at Alyth Synagogue, becoming the 220th rabbi ordained by Leo Baeck College.
All pictures by Zoe Norfolk.
Relive this special moment with us – watch the recording today
Rabbi Yael Tischler was ordained by Rabbi Kath Vardi, also an LBC Alumna, from the Menorah Reform Synagogue.
The service, welcoming the 220th rabbi ordained by LBC, was led by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, Lecturer at LBC, Cantor Zöe Jacobs from Finchley Reform Synagogue and Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers from Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue.
A momentous milestone
This occasion marked a bittersweet moment as Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh’s last Ordination as Dean & Director of Jewish Studies at Leo Baeck College, who also led the Kaddish Yatom. However, we were pleased to be joined by incoming Director of Jewish Studies, Rabbi Dr Tali Artman-Partock, who gave the address.
During her address, Rabbi Dr Tali Artman-Partock said:
“We do our best to open you paths in Torah and Talmud, in Liturgy and mysticism, in history and philosophy, to create a web of treasure maps for our students to travel. The quest is challenging, frustrating, confusing.
We make our students read old texts in forgotten languages, because we know that if they bear it, at the moment on the bima the words open their arms, the mystics of the Zohar will give them a leg up, and reassure them that you would also come down.
That on the days one have nothing to say, they will know where to find the psalm, the parable that would bring them to their core, the verse in which Moses, already stood there before them, begging God to take the burden of the people off his hands.”
“We teach so much rabbinic literature not only for rabbis to have teaching materials for all eternity, but as it slowly transforms one’s thinking, not only in leaning to hold on to multiplicity of voices, but also understanding what a communal intergeneration investments look like.
How to create culture out of rupture, hope in face of destruction. What we stand for as a college, and what we try to pass on, can be summed up in a quote for the Yerusalmi which opens rabbi Lionel Blue, student of the first class of LBC’s first book. It says:’ Rav said, a man will have to give account in the judgment day of every good thing he might have enjoyed and did not’.”
“Not of every wrong doing, not on moments of weakness you will be judged, but on passing over goodness that was offered to you. Which brings us to this years’ ordinand, Yael, or as I secretly called her in my heart for a while now Yaelf, a woman who can stand confidently on judgment day as her true spiritual virtue is enjoying every goodness laid before her.
The elf suffix comes from a TV show called Mozart in the Jungle, which presents a conductor, annoyingly able you pick up any musical instrument and just play it, like a magical elf. Watching Yaelf over the years has given us a similar experience, and the joy of witnessing a mission accomplished.
Coming into the college as an experienced ritual crafter, and spiritual leader, we watched in awe how Yaelf picked up every buried Jewish textual treasure and made it her own in godspeed. Under her feet, the giants grew taller.”
“So what can we wish you, rabbi Tischler, you, who already have in your bag such wealth, but to continue to love your God, and walk, in the way only you can, in all of God’s paths. May they never cease to open before you.”
A truly special occasion...
Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, Co-CEOs of The Movement for Progressive Judaism also took part in the Ordination service by opening the ark and scrolls.
The ordination certificates were presented jointly by Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris, Principal of LBC and Dr James Traeger, Co-Chair of the LBC Board of Governors.
The final blessings were given by Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris.
In the middle of July, we’ll be bringing you a recording of the Ordination service. To stay up to date, make sure you sign up to receive our newsletter here.
