Rabbi Beth Jacowitz Chottiner is the spiritual leader of Temple Shalom, Louisville, KY, and previously served as the rabbi of Temple Shalom, Wheeling, WV. In addition to serving her congregation, she builds bridges between faith communities, works for the betterment of the residents in her city, and is committed to social justice. She was appointed by Governor Andy Beshear to the Kentucky Antisemitism Task Force and has received the Governor of West Virginia’s Civil Rights Day Award. She also chaired the City of Wheeling Human Rights Commission.
Rabbi Jacowitz Chottiner partners with other faith and cultural organizations for worship services and events. She started an interfaith clergy group upon her arrival to Louisville and was a founding member of the LGBTQ+ support group in Wheeling. She volunteers with Habitat for Humanity on interfaith builds and has partnered with Kentucky Refugee Ministries for the resettlement of families in Louisville.
An active participant in Holocaust education, Rabbi Jacowitz Chottiner has delivered the opening address at West Virginia University’s Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) program. She also speaks at schools about the Holocaust and served as the spiritual advisor for the overseas Holocaust-related “Poland Personally” study seminar, which is run by Pittsburgh-based Classrooms Without Borders.
The rise of antisemitism has hit Rabbi Jacowitz Chottiner close to home. When she lived here in Pittsburgh, she sometimes read Torah during Shabbat services at Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 worshippers were murdered on October 27, 2018. (Her husband’s great-uncle had been the rabbi there for over 40 years.) Additionally, the rabbi held hostage by a gunman at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan 15, 2022, and who eventually escaped with his congregants, was her friend and classmate at seminary. Rabbi Jacowitz Chottiner also has found it necessary to speak with school administrators when her congregants’ children have been bullied, verbally accosted, and even physically attacked during class hours, just for being Jews.
At the Summit
It is a tragic reality that hateful ideology has found fertile ground online and offline, with consequences affecting not only Americans but people around the world. We cannot stand idle in the face of bias, bigotry, and extremism. Together, at the Eradicate Hate Summit and beyond, the collective will of individuals and organizations is needed to galvanize all people of good will to protect and defend our communities.
