Spertus Institute. 100 Years of Jewish learning for a better world
Spertus Institute. 100 Years of Jewish learning for a better world
Headshot of Maharat Rori Picker Neiss

Rabba Rori Picker Neiss 

Courses

Education

  • Rabbinic Ordination, Yeshivat Maharat, New York, NY 
  • BA, Hunter College, New York, NY  

Bio

Rabba Rori Picker Neiss serves as Senior Vice President and Rabbi in Residence at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the national convener of Jewish coalitions working across communities to build a just and inclusive American democracy. A nationally recognized leader in community relations, coalition‑building, and interreligious engagement, Rori previously served as Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, where she strengthened partnerships across faith, racial, and political lines to advance Jewish safety, democratic values, and social justice.

One of the first graduates of Yeshivat Maharat, Rori is a David Hartman Center Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, and co‑editor of InterActive Faith: The Essential Interreligious Community‑Building Handbook. She serves on the Boards of Directors of HIAS and the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Publications

  • InterActive Faith: The Essential Interreligious Community-Building Handbook, coauthored with Rev. Bud Heckman (SkyLight Paths, 2008)
  • “Korech”. Food & Justice Haggadah Supplement. Ed. Adina Gerver. (New York: Uri L’Tzedek, 2011)
  • Brill, Alan and Rori Picker Neiss. “Applying Theology of Other Religions to Judaism.” Jewish Theology and World Religions. Ed. Alon Goshen-Gottstein and Eugene Korn. United Kingdom: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2012.
  • “Holding the Keys”. Faithfully Feminist: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Women on Why They Stay (I SPEAK FOR MYSELF Series). Ed. Gina Messina-Dysert , Jennifer Zobair and Amy Levin. Oregon: White Cloud Press, 2015.
  • “The Development and Ordination of the Maharat”. The Sacred Calling: Forty Years of Women in the Rabbinate. Ed. Rabbis Alysa Mendelson Graf and Rebecca Einstein Schorr. New York: CCAR Press, 2016.
  • “Allyship: When the Answer is the Question”. Chaver Up! 49 Rabbis Explore What it Means to be an Ally through a Jewish Lens. Ed. Rabbis Sharon Kleinbaum and Mike Moskowitz. New York, 2021.
  • “Facing Mortality in Childbirth”. The Social Justice Torah Commentary. Ed. Rabbi Barry Block. New York: CCAR Press, 2021.

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