Rabbi

Rabbi Grace Gleason is committed to creating Jewish spaces that are grounded in ancient wisdom, guided by tradition, welcoming, imaginative, and warm. She brings a love of text, ritual, and, most importantly, people, to her service to Beth David Synagogue since 2023. 

Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Rabbi Gleason loved the occasional Jewish ritual from a young age, but it wasn’t until she took a life-changing Talmud study class as a young adult that she understood the depths of what our tradition has to offer and dove in. Her formative years of study at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, as well as her own background, informed her commitment to making Jewish tradition accessible to Jews from all walks of life -- especially to women, LGBTQ+ folks, Jews in interfaith relationships, Jews by choice, and others who have been historically excluded from full participation. 

Rabbi Gleason got her rabbinic start as a Leadership Fellow at Mishkan Chicago, where she supported the early stages of a thriving new Jewish community, led musical prayer, and learned how to lead. She pursued her love of text study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where she received a fellowship, and at the Hadar Institute in New York City. 

Rabbi Gleason earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Chicago, and received rabbinic ordination, a Master of Arts, and a certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. While in rabbinical school, she served as the visiting cantor at New City Jewish Center in New York and at Moreshet Yisrael in Jerusalem, the rabbinic intern at Kehillah Chadasha in Ramat Aviv, Israel, and as the Rabbinic Fellow at B’nai Jeshurun, a 1800-family community on New York’s Upper West Side with a strong emphasis on music, prayer and justice work. During her time at BJ, Rabbi Gleason created programs for young professionals, taught weekly classes on the Torah portion, as well as oversaw the conversion program and taught the popular Introduction to Judaism course. This vibrant community affirmed her love of Jewish music from around the world, and her understanding of a synagogue as an institution that must be deeply involved with its neighbors, surrounding communities, and society.

In her final year of rabbinical school, Rabbi Gleason split her time between New York and Orlando, and served as the interim student rabbi at the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation. In this wonderful and warm small community, she also oversaw conversions, taught classes, guided more than a dozen students through their b’nai mitzvah, and engaged many new members in this growing city.

Rabbi Gleason completed two 400-hour units of Clinical Pastoral Education, serving as a chaplain intern at The Osborne Association in Brooklyn, New York, an agency supporting individuals who have been recently incarcerated and their families, and at Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago. Being present with individuals during times of illness and transition is at the core of Rabbi Gleason’s purpose in her rabbinate.

In her past roles before rabbinical school, she has been a kindergarten teacher, oral history researcher, Uber driver and case manager at a Chicago center for Survivors of Torture. All of these experiences have shaped her belief in the resiliency and creativity of human beings, which guides all that she does as a rabbi. 

Rabbi Gleason looks forward to meeting you and being in touch.