Andrea Weiss

Andrea Lynn Weiss (September 9, 1965 – March 3, 2026) was an American rabbi and author who was an Associate Professor of Bible, and Director of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College, where she was ordained in 1993 and became provost in 2018, serving in that role into 2025. She earned a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. She was associate editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, published in 2008. In 2019, Weiss became the first woman to ordain rabbis and cantors in the Jewish Reform Movement.

Early life and education Weiss was born on September 9, 1965, and raised in San Diego by her parents Marty and Ruth Weiss. Her paternal great-grandmother Sadie Fleischer emigrated to the United States from what is now Poland in the early 1900s, and later married Brooklyn tailor Aaron Weiss. Their son Sam Weiss (Weiss's grandfather) married his wife, Blanche, at age 20. They settled in San Diego in 1940 and remained married for 81 years, until Blanche's death. Weiss considered studying law before deciding to pursue rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), in Los Angeles. Weiss stated "I decided to be a rabbi right before I was going to apply to law school . . . I wanted to make my advocation my vocation".

While a third-year rabbinical student in 1990, the 25-year old Weiss conducted services one weekend a month for the 40-person Etz Chaim congregation in Merced, California. In 2000, Weiss joined the faculty of HUC-JIR in New York, as an Associate Professor of Bible. She earned a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, in the department of Near Eastern Studies and Civilizations. She was later a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, Weiss was appointed HUC-JIR's Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost, serving through the COVID-19 pandemic until June 2025. She served as Head of Seminary and Rabbinical School Director at HUC-JIR.

In 1993, Weiss was an editor of the publication "Shalom/Salaam: A Resource for Jewish-Muslim Dialogue". In 2006, Weiss published the book Figurative Language in Biblical Prose Narrative: Metaphor in the Book of Samuel (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum).

Weiss is best known as the associate editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, which won the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award from the Jewish Book Council. The book consists of five forms of biblical exegesis, by hundreds of women authors. Weiss previewed drafts of the book to Jewish congregations across the United States during the two years preceding its publication. In addition to the valuable perspectives offered by and to women, Weiss would often have to explain the book's essays and commentaries were also important to men as a body of work falling within the Jewish tradition of biblical exegesis and commentaries. United States Senator Elissa Slotkin was sworn in on the book. Weiss gave the 2012 Goodman Lecture at St. Catherine's University on "Ancient Words, New Voices: The Story of The Torah—A Women’s Commentary". Weiss frequently was asked to serve as a scholar-in-residence. Among other times serving as a scholar-in-residence, in 2006, she was a scholar-in-residence for Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida; in 2007, she was scholar-in-residence for Temple Beth El in Closter, New Jersey; in 2012, Weiss was a Goldstein/Leibson scholar-in-residence in Louisville, Kentucky; and in 2024, she was scholar-in-residence at Congregation Beth Israel, in Houston.

In 2016–17, and again in 2020–21, Weiss initiated and led the nonpartisan interfaith American Values, Religious Voices campaign, involving the writing of 100 350-word letters by faith leaders directed to political leaders in the United States. These letters collectively have been published in two books. The Center for American Progress named Weiss as a faith leader to watch in 2018 because of her efforts to highlight the voices of a diverse set of religious scholars.

The 2022 art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, shown among other places at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, featured art about twenty-four female rabbis who were firsts in some way; Debbie Teicholz Guedalia created the artwork about Weiss that was in that exhibit.

Legacy Rabbi Rick Jacobs stated after Weiss's death: "A generation of rabbis, cantors and educators were blessed to study Hebrew Bible with her. For an even wider audience, 'The Torah: A Women's Torah Commentary,' which she edited with Tamara Eskenazi, helped open hearts and minds to see the biblical text through the eyes and experiences of women". Her husband was among the lawyers who helped exonerate the wrongfully convicted Chester Hollman, an innocent person who had spent 28 years in prison. Weiss came to know Hollman’s thoughtful, determined, insightful and compassionate nature; and spoke on, and gave light to, the biblical lessons that could be learned from the way Hollman faced extraordinary injustice and adversity in his life without losing hope and faith.

Just a few months before her death, Weiss wrote in her personal journal, "To live with love and gratitude. To love with generosity. To experience joy and connection day in and day out for as many days as I am gifted".