Rabbi Elyse Wechterman

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman is a consultant and coach to rabbis and congregations across North America. She served as the CEO of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) from 2015 until 2024. During her tenure, the RRA redefined itself as an association supporting all its members wherever they “rabbi.” She is responsible for expanding the RRA’s professional development and continuing education programming, and increasing its visibility in the broader community. Wechterman was instrumental in building trans-denominational partnerships, most especially in the area of rabbinic ethics, and helped to initiate the RRA/Reconstructing Judaism placement commission, which is redesigning the way the Reconstructionist movement supports rabbis in their employment journeys. Before her work at the RRA, Wechterman served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Mass. She was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2000 and received a certificate in Jewish leadership from the Spertus Institute in 2016. She worked at the former Jewish Reconstructionist Federation throughout her rabbinical studies. As JRF’s Mid-Atlantic regional director and subsequently as director of congregational services, Wechterman gained significant experience and familiarity with congregational systems and leadership development. She was a founding faculty member of Camp JRF in the Poconos (now called Camp Havaya) and served on their summer faculty for many years. With an ongoing commitment to life-long learning, Wechterman has pursued several continuing education and rabbinic growth opportunities. She was in the second cohort of PEER (Program for Excellence and Education in the Rabbinate). She is also a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Rabbinic training program and received the Hassenfeld Award for Jewish Service from the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island for her leadership work in providing social services in the context of the Jewish community. In 2014, she traveled to India with the American Jewish World Service as part of a rabbinic delegation building social justice partnerships. In Massachusetts, Wechterman was active in interfaith work in the community, serving on the board of the Attleboro Area Council of Churches and participating in monthly interfaith dialogues. She is a founding member of GAIN, the Greater Attleboro Interfaith Network, which works on fair and just policing in the Attleboro area. She regularly participated in discussion forums, interfaith services and other programs that unite people. Wechterman holds a B.A. in international relations and a B.S. in journalism from Boston University. She was raised in Port Jefferson on Long Island, N.Y. She and her husband lived and helped build Jewish communities in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; and Attleboro, Mass. They now live in Abington, Pa., and are the parents of two adult children. She is a visual artist, an organic gardener and an accomplished vegetarian cook.