Jill L. Maderer has served Congregation Rodeph Shalom since her ordination from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, NY in 2001. In 2017, Rabbi Maderer became our senior rabbi.  In partnership with our senior staff, professional team, Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and many involved congregants, she works passionately to build community, to connect Jewish wisdom to all that we do, and to pursue our vision: immersed in Jewish time, guided by enduring values, compelled to moral action, we create profound connections.

Our connections exist both within and beyond the walls of the synagogue. The one stipulation Jewish law provides for the building of a sanctuary is the presence of windows to the outside. With that relationship to the world around us, the words of our prayers are influenced by the life of our city and our experience of prayer inspires us to go forth into the world empowered by Jewish values.  The photographs of our professional team offer a view from our synagogue of our neighborhood and the city we love and to which we feel responsible.

Rabbi Maderer currently serves on the Board of the Interfaith Philadelphia; in the past she has served as: president of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia, chairperson of the Center City Kehillah, a member of the Religious Leaders Council (multi-faith) of Greater Philadelphia, as a Mussar Institute instructor training Reform rabbis, as faculty at URJ Camp Harlam, and she has served on the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Task Force for Experience of Women in the Rabbinate. 

Rabbi Maderer published the chapters “‘Nothing Will Be Out of Their Reach:’ Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, and Gender Power Imbalance” in Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority: Our Jewish Obligation to Social Justice and “If Not Now, Why: Celebrating the Festivals at Their Fixed Times” in Seven Days, Many Voices: Insights into the Biblical Story of Creation.

Rabbi Maderer’s early life was shaped by her involvement in the Reform youth movement and in her hometown Reform congregation in Westfield, New Jersey. She graduated from Brandeis University with a major in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and minors in Women’s Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies.

Rabbi Maderer, her husband Len Lipkin and their two children reside in Philadelphia, not far from Rodeph Shalom.