Lauren Tuchman
Lauren Tuchman (born 1986) is the first blind woman to be ordained as a rabbi. She works to make Jewish life more inclusive and to advocate for disability justice.
She was born in Washington, D.C., and has been blind since infancy. She grew up in an interfaith family with a Catholic mother who also shared Jewish traditions. She faced ableism in the Catholic community, and as a teenager she discovered Judaism through a braille siddur and later converted.
Tuchman earned a BA in Religion from Dickinson College and an MA and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. While studying, she joined social justice programs and trained with organizations like JOIN for Justice and Jews United for Justice. She interned with T’ruah.
After being ordained in 2018, she became the Washington, DC–based Rabbinic-in-Residence for Avodah. She has also served on JOIN for Justice’s board and completed SVARA’s Kollel. Her work includes teaching, consulting on access and inclusion, and writing Torah commentary, often drawing on Hasidic teachings.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:05 (CET).