Sivan Malkin Maas

Sivan Malkin Maas is the first Israeli to be ordained as a rabbi in Humanistic Judaism.

She was ordained by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in 2003. Her thesis was "How to build and develop a Secular Humanistic Jewish community in Israel." She is the daughter of Professor Reuven Malchin, who is the editor of the journal "Free Judaism", which deals with the Israeli movement for secular humanistic Judaism.

She founded the Institute for Training Secular Humanistic Rabbis and Jewish Leadership in Israel, which ordained its first group of secular rabbis in Israel in 2006 (five men and two women). Rather than as a religious leader, she views a rabbi as "an educator, a counselor, an expert in Jewish culture [and] an initiator and organizer of community events and a person involved in people's life-cycle events" She currently directs the Jerusalem branch of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.