Rabbi Talia Kaplan is a community organizer, educator, and chaplain who engages with a Jewish tradition that grounds, empowers, and sustains us in an ever-changing world.
Rabbi Kaplan received her ordination, M.A. in Jewish Gender and Women's Studies, and Certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she studied as a Crown Fellow. She holds a B.A. with High Honors in Government from Wesleyan University. Rabbi Kaplan honed her empathetic leadership through internships at Brown RISD Hillel and Park Slope Jewish Center, chaplaincy at Bellevue and New York Presbyterian hospitals, and volunteering with ImmerseNYC. Before rabbinical school, she spent formative time studying at the University of Haifa and Pardes and advocating for immigration justice in Washington, D.C. Rabbi Kaplan also draws upon training in organizing from JOIN for Justice and in pedagogy from SVARA.
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Rabbi Kaplan has created curricula on Judaism and justice, contributed to anthologies of poetry and prose and publications like The Forward and Hey Alma, and engaged in interfaith dialogue with organizations such as Auburn Seminary and U.N. Women. She is often invited to speak on the intersections of Jewish law, gender, and disability, in both Jewish and interfaith settings.
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In 2024, Rabbi Kaplan joined the clergy team at Congregation Beth Shalom in Overland Park, Kansas, following a successful pilot of an innovative fellowship-to-full-time model.
