O

n May 26, Temple 
Israel will celebrate 
its female rabbis and 
the women who helped pave 
the way for women in the rab-
binate. 
Along with the Holy Sparks 
exhibit in the Goodman 
Family Museum, Temple 
Israel will unveil portraits of 
Rabbi Marla Hornsten, Rabbi 
Jennifer Kaluzny, Rabbi Jen 
Lader and Rabbi Arianna 
Gordon by paper-cut artist 
Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik, whose 
work was recently featured 
in the Goodman Family 
Museum. His art is a combi-
nation of the ancient art of 
Jewish paper cutting, Jewish 
text and comic books, com-
bined to depict the essence of 
their individual rabbinates, 
personalities and interests.
At Temple Israel, each of the 
rabbis took a different path to 
the bimah. 

RABBI MARLA HORNSTEN
Rabbi Hornsten never planned 
on becoming a rabbi. 
“When I was a teenager, my 
dad would say things, like ‘you 
should become a rabbi,
’ and I 
would literally tell him that was 
the most ridiculous thing I ever 
heard,
” Hornsten said.
As an adult, while working on 
her master’s degree in European 
history, she enrolled in a pro-
gram at the Brandeis Collegiate 
Institute. 
“I loved everything about 
it. I studied Jewish texts for 
the first time. I was living an 
intensive Jewish life, pursuing 
Judaism through art and music 
and drama and dance, and it 
was incredible,
” Rabbi Hornsten 
said. “I met amazing people, and 
the Jewish text piece was really 
significant to me. After that sum-
mer, I went back to school, and I 
just felt like I was looking at the 
world through a Jewish lens. I felt 

like everything had a Jewish per-
spective to it. And I hadn’t seen 
that before.
”
From there, she started think-
ing more about the conversations 
she would have with her dad 
about potentially being a rabbi. 
“I kept saying, ‘No, no, no,
’ but 
it kept coming up and, finally, a 
guy I was working with said to 
me, ‘Marla, maybe you should 
just do it already,
’ and that’s when 
I decided I would,
” she said. 
Hornsten came to Temple 
Israel in July of 2000. She was 
the first female rabbi at Temple 
Israel. 

RABBI JENNIFER KALUZNY
Rabbi Kaluzny joined Temple 
Israel clergy in 2004.
 “Judaism was always a posi-
tive, fun, loving part of my life, 
I enjoyed learning Jewish text 
and Hebrew, and my own rabbis 
looked like they truly enjoyed 
what they were doing. I always 

knew I wanted to be in a helping 
profession,
” she said. “I consid-
ered nursing or teaching. I love 
being in a medical environment 
and being around different kinds 
of people. Becoming a rabbi 
allows me to do all of those 
things: teach, preach, counsel, 
travel. I have the opportunity to 
experience everything I love in a 
Jewish context.
” 
 When Kaluzny was 19, her 
aunt passed away while in hos-
pice in Chicago. The care her 
aunt received left an impact on 
her. Even before ordination, she 
sought training in chaplaincy 
and hospice work, and that led to 
her join the Jewish Hospice and 
Chaplaincy Network in the sum-
mer of 2001. 
 “I was taken by the nurses, the 
rabbi that came and said a prayer 
for her, and how much respect 
each and every person showed 
my aunt, even when she wasn’t 
conscious. They nurses even took 
care of us, knowing how much 
we loved her and were devastated 
by her death,
” Kaluzny said. “I 
made a promise to myself then 
that I if I succeeded in becoming 
a rabbi, I would make chaplaincy 
and hospice work a cornerstone 
of my rabbinate.
” 

RABBI JEN LADER
Rabbi Lader joined Temple Israel 
in 2012. She also never planned 
on being a rabbi. 
“I was going to be a doctor,
” 
Lader said. “Since I was little, I 
was focused on science. My dad’s 
a scientist, and I went to a science 
academy for middle school and 
a specialized magnet school for 
high school … I’ve been obsessed 
with the natural world and magic 
and our bodies and nature, and I 
was very on track for that.
”
Lader grew up in a smaller 
Jewish community in Austin, 
Texas. As a teenager, she was 
introduced to BBYO. 
“Youth group was totally 
mind-blowing for me. It was 
incredible to break out of my 
very small community and see 

OUR COMMUNITY

Holy Sparks! 

14 | MAY 25 • 2023 

Temple Israel will celebrate 50 years of women 
in the Rabbinate on May 26. 

SEAN SHAPIRO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 

Rabbi Jen Lader, Rabbi 
Jennifer Kaluzny, 
Rabbi Marla Hornsten 
and Rabbi Arianna 
Gordon