Quick Facts
Biography
Debra Kolodny is a bisexual rights activist, congregational rabbi and Executive Director of Nehirim. She came out as bisexual in 1984. She edited the first anthology by bisexual people of faith, Blessed Bi Spirit (2000), to which she contributed "Hear, I Pray You, This Dream Which I Have Dreamed," about Jewish identity and bisexuality. She was the National Coordinator of BiNet USA for five years and facilitator of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's National Religious Leadership Roundtable from 1998 until 2004. She has also been interviewed by several major news outlets for stories on bisexuality, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Debra Kolodny joined Pnai Or, Portland’s Jewish Renewal congregation, as its rabbi in September 2011. Before moving to Portland she served for 9 years as the Executive Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Debra also served the northern Virginia community of Shoreshim for four years, was a lay leader at Fabrangen in Washington DC for 13 years and was the founder and spiritual leader of the Pnai HaSadeh learning minyan for 5 years. In March 2013 Debra began to split her time between P’nai Or and Nehirim, a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Jews, families, and allies, committed to a more just and inclusive world, where she serves as Executive Director.
She is listed in the Bisexuality-Aware Professionals Directory under the category of "Pastoral / Religious."