Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan grew up in Kew Gardens, New York, with Conservadox Judaism as her natural habitat.  Her love of Judaism was nurtured by her parents Ruth and Bernard Duhan, the Solomon Schechter School of Queens, Congregation Adath Yeshurun, and Camp Massad of the Poconos.

At Stuyvesant High School of Math and Science, Laura was introduced to the study of philosophy.  She went on to earn a B.A. in Philosophy at Brandeis University, an M.Ed. in Adult Education at Cambridge College, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education at Claremont Graduate University.  Along the way, she also studied dance, painting, writing, and music, completed a two-year training program in Ayurvedic Yoga, and served as a Hillel Program Director.

For fifteen years, Laura served as a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  For seven of those years, she served as Coordinator of Women’s Studies, for three she served as Chair of the Philosophy Department, and for five she taught in the Judaic Studies Program.  She earned many awards for her scholarship, teaching, and service, including the prestigious U.S. Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  She is now Professor Emerita of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte.

In 1991, Laura married Charles Kaplan, psychologist and musician.  Together they are raising two children, Hillary and Eli.  In order to create a natural Jewish habitat for their own children, they became active in the creative, lay-led, Reconstructionist affiliated Havurat Tikvah. When Havurat Tikvah led them to the Jewish Renewal movement created by Reb Zalman, they immediately felt as though they had come home.

In 2005, Laura received Smicha (rabbinic ordination) from the ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and began working as Rabbi of Or Shalom Synagogue. At Or Shalom, she is involved in ritual, education, pastoral care, and leadership. Since coming to Vancouver, she has taught courses at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver School of Theology, and the Florence Melton Adult Jewish Studies Program. She is a member of the Academic Va’ad of the ALEPH seminary and a former Vice Chair of the ALEPH Board.

Laura would particularly like to thank her most influential teachers, Rabbi Marcia Prager, Hazzan Jack Kessler, Rabbi Miles Krassen, Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams, and Professor John C. Reeves.

Source: www.orshalom.ca