Lauren Tuchman

Lauren Tuchman (born 1986) is the first blind woman to be ordained as a rabbi. She is notable for her contributions to inclusive Torah and advocacy for disability justice.

Biography Tuchman was born in 1986, and has been blind since infancy. She was raised in Washington, D.C., in an interfaith family with a secular Jewish father and a Catholic mother. During her time in the Catholic community, Tuchman experienced several ableist incidents. As a teenager, she began embracing Judaism after encountering a braille siddur. She later earned a master's degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).

She continued her education at JTS for rabbinical school, where she participated in social justice programs, including the Jewish Organizing Institute & Network (JOIN for Justice) training for clergy and the Jews United for Justice Jeremiah Fellowship. In 2019, she joined JOIN for Justice's board of directors and completed the first cohort of SVARA's Kollel. From 2018 to 2020, Tuchman participated in David Jaffe's Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project, focusing on social justice leadership through Musar, and subsequently began teaching within the program. 2020: Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance's Ushpizot