Rabbi Geffen

Rabbi Geffen was installed as the ninth senior rabbi of NSCI in 2015 and has been a part of the rabbinic team since 2002. Rabbi Geffen is a tireless leader of our community, a person who people turn to for counsel, education, and insight year after year. Rabbi Geffen has a vision for NSCI: reanimating and redefining what a 21st-century synagogue can become—synonymous with thriving and transformation, developing relationships of significance, and a larger sense of purpose and impact in the world’s repair. 

There are many things that inspire Rabbi Geffen. She’s passionate about how Jewish wisdom adds meaning to our lives and enables us to better our world every day. As a rabbi, she is dedicated to empowering each person to define their Jewish identity and Jewish journey. As the most senior staff member, Rabbi Geffen empowers the synagogue and larger Jewish community to pursue tzedek (justice) and tikkun olam (the repair of the world). She also likes to explore and present complicated, nuanced Jewish texts and ideas in ways that have accessible relevance for people. You’ll find her leading a conversation on mindful living in the Perlman Sanctuary, delivering a sermon as a guest preacher at a Chicagoland church, or cheering alongside her husband Scott for their children at a dance recital or golf match.

Beyond her leadership at NSCI, Rabbi Geffen has served in a number of leadership positions locally and nationally. She has served as the CCAR Convention Chair as well as on the Executive Board, as well as on the Executive Board of the Chicago Board of Rabbis; she was a CLAL LEAP fellow, a Rabbis Without Borders fellow, and a 2012–2013 writer’s fellow of AJWS. Additionally, she is on the Board of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, serves on a number of other local Jewish and communal boards, and is a frequent commentator to the press on issues of national importance.