Cynthia Culpeper

Cynthia Ann "Cyndie" Culpeper (June 16, 1962 – August 29, 2005) was the first pulpit rabbi to announce being diagnosed with AIDS, which she did in 1996 when she was a rabbi at Agudath Israel in Montgomery, Alabama. She was the first full-time female rabbi in Alabama and the first Conservative female rabbi in Alabama. She converted from Roman Catholicism at age 21, and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1995.

AIDS Culpeper was working as a nurse in San Francisco General Hospital when she accidentally contracted HIV due to a needle stick, and was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. She later became the first pulpit rabbi to announce being diagnosed with AIDS, which she did in 1996 when she was a rabbi at Agudath Israel in Montgomery, Alabama. Culpeper spoke about AIDS to Jewish communities throughout America. She died of AIDS in 2005. Block #6020 of the AIDS Memorial Quilt has a panel commemorating her.

Achievements Culpeper was the first full-time female rabbi in Alabama.