Bonnie Koppell

Bonnie Koppell is an American rabbi. She was one of the first female rabbis in the United States, and was the first woman rabbi to serve in the U.S. military. Since 2006, Rabbi Koppell has served as a rabbi to the Temple Chai community, located in Phoenix, Arizona. Rabbi Koppell graduated Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1981, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 2006 for 25 years of service in the rabbinate. In addition, she also has served as President of the Board of Directors of the East Valley Child Crisis Center, and as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix. CH Koppell was commissioned as a 2LT Chaplain Candidate in 1978; she joined the army reserves in 1978 while a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She served a year of active duty in support of Operation Noble Eagle. and was Mesa’s “Woman of the Year” in 2004.