Rabbi Helen Plotkin: Learning Jewish/Being Jewish

College Commons

Studying Jewish tradition as an expression of the Jewish purpose. Rabbi Helen Plotkin is co-founder of the Beit Midrash at Swarthmore College, where she taught courses in Biblical Hebrew and classical Hebrew texts for 20 years. She is founder and director of Mekom Torah (pronounced McComb Toe-RAH), offering deep Jewish study opportunities for adults and teens that transcend the boundaries of the various Jewish movements. Mekom Torah is committed to a radically ancient vision of Judaism as a culture of learning in which study is not a preparation for Jewish life, it is Jewish life. Rabbi Plotkin also teaches in the Beit Midrash at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Plotkin holds a BA from Swarthmore College in Philosophy and Linguistics, an MA from the University of Michigan in Ancient Chinese Language and Thought, and rabbinical ordination from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is editor and annotator of the recent book, In This Hour: Heschel's Writings in Nazi Germany and London Exile, and she writes for online journals including Tablet Magazine.