Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Teaching Fellow

Email: Robyn.Ashworth-Steen@lbc.ac.uk

Rabbi Robyn is currently studying for a PhD in Rabbinic Leadership and Biblical Studies with the University of Leeds under a AHRC scholarship. Since her undergraduate degree in Theology and Religious Studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, Robyn worked as a Human Rights lawyer and then began training for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College. Upon ordination she worked as Manchester’s first female rabbi at Manchester Reform Synagogue, for a number of years. Robyn is a passionate teacher and is a Fellow of Higher Education (FHEA). She is a Teaching Fellow at Leo Baeck College, was an instructor for the 2025 Virtual Pathway of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College and is on the organising team for the International Jewish-Christian Bible Week.

Robyn regularly appears in UK mediaand has been published in various books and journal. Robyn is interested in creating safe, anti-oppressive, relational, textured, activist communities built by individuals who are enabled to step into their own power and collectively organise for a more just world.

Publications/Writing

Rabbi Robyn’s blog – wandering-rabbi.com

‘How Could the Exodus Story and the Claims it Makes on Jews be Re-imagined Following the Complex Traumas of the Past Two Years?’ By Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel, edited by Kessler, E., Baginsky, C., and Levy, J., 2026, The Movement for Progressive Judaism, pp.33-40.

‘How Satisfactory is Maimonides’ Solution to the Problem of Evil’, Robyn Ashworth-Steen, European Judaism, Vol. 50, No.1, Spring 2017:113-122.

‘“If Not With Others, How?”: Creating Rabbinic Activists Through Study’ by Deborah Kahn-Harris and Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in: Activism, Bible, and Research-Based Teaching, edited by Johanna Stiebert, 2024, Sheffield Phoenix Press, pp.227-253.

‘Leaving a Toxic Community: Ritual Moments’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in The Sacred Struggle: Jewish Responses to Trauma, edited by Lindsey Danziger and Benjamin David, 2025,. CCAR Press, pp. 263-268.

‘Lilith’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in Feeding Women of the Talmud, Feeding Ourselves: Uplifting the Voices of Talmudic Heroines and Honoring Them with Simple, Vegan Recipes, edited by Kenden Alfond, 2022, Turner.

‘Our Revolt-ing Women: Bringing Women Together’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen and Yehudis Fletcher, in: Abuse in World Religions: Articulating the Problem, edited by Johanna Stiebert, 2025, Routledge. (Available on open access here.)

‘PaRDeS: Navigating Pastoral Care as a Congregational Rabbi’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen, European Judaism, 58(1): 121-136 (2025).

‘The Power of Language’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in What Makes me Angry: Howls of Rabbinic Rage…and Solutions, edited by R. Jonathan Romain, 2022, The Movement for Reform Judaism.

‘Wandering Jews: Using our Exilic Condition to Create Communities and Change’ by Robyn Ashworth-Steen, in Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community, edited by Lia D. Shimada, 2020, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Blog: www.wandering-rabbi.com

Bluesky @rabbirobyn.bsky.socialPodcast: Rabbiting On

‘If not with others, how?’ Adrienne Rich