Professional Staff
Director of Education & Family Programming
Rabbi Valerie Lieber
(she/her)
Rabbi Valerie Lieber oversees the Hebrew School, Shabbat and Holiday children’s services, Shabbat Club and Family Education programs at Kane Street. Rabbi Val began working with our community in the summer of 2008 and quickly exhibited her strengths as an educator and administrator.
Rabbi Val graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College and a month later was immersed in rabbinical study in Jerusalem. She received ordination at Hebrew Union College in New York in 1995, then served as Rabbi-Educator at Temple Beth Ahavath Sholom in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn for seven years. She then became the spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Jamaica in Queens for six years where she led the congregation through the Experiment in Congregational Education Re-Imagine program, a national project exploring congregational education. Rabbi Val has published chapters and articles in anthologies including The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, an award-winning volume published in 2007.
Though she was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, she has lived with her partner, Leah Kopperman, in Park Slope since 1993. She considers Brooklyn one of the great Jewish holy lands. You can sometimes see her riding around Brooklyn on her bicycle or her motor scooter. She’d love you to wave and shout hello.