Danya Ruttenberg

Danya Ruttenberg (born February 6, 1975) is an American rabbi, editor, and author. She has been called "the Twitter rabbi" for her social media presence. She lives in Chicago.

Biography
Her family attended a Reform synagogue in Chicago, and she described herself as having been atheist around that time. Ruttenberg later became a part of the Conservative movement within Judaism.

When she was in college her mother died of breast cancer, and Ruttenberg reconsidered religion, practiced Jewish mourning rituals, which she said allowed her to "make friends with Judaism, to be open to it"; in 2008 she published a memoir of her spiritual awakening titled Surprised by God: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Religion.

She was ordained in 2008 by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles.

She served as the Senior Jewish Educator at Tufts University Hillel, and subsequently Campus Rabbi at Northwestern Hillel and Director of Education for the campus dialogue program Ask Big Questions. She served as Rabbi in Residence for the community service group Avodah.

On the evening of February 6 2017, Ruttenberg and 18 other rabbis associated with human rights organization T'ruah were arrested while protesting the Trump travel ban outside of Trump Tower. She described her arrest as a "profoundly holy experience" and compared it to sacrifices made at the Temple in Jerusalem.

In 2020, she became Scholar in Residence for the National Council of Jewish Women. While at the NCJW, she launched Rabbis for Repro, a reproductive rights group.

In 2021, she wrote an open letter condemning attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of Steven M. Cohen after his 2018 departure from Stanford University over sexual harassment. The letter was signed by 500 rabbis. In 2023, she and several other former students of the Ziegler School sent a letter to the Rabbinical Assembly regarding sexism, homophobia, and sexual harassment at the school. The letter asked for an investigation and a change in leadership.

In July 2024, she announced that she had disaffiliated from the Conservative movement within Judaism, and was in the process of joining a different rabbinical association.

Awards and honors

 * Finalist for Surprised by God – Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, 2010
 * "36 Under 36" – The Jewish Week, 2010
 * Top 50 most influential women rabbis – The Jewish Daily Forward, 2010
 * Finalist for Nurture the Wow – National Jewish Book Award 2016
 * Parents' Choice selection for Nurture the Wow – PJ Library, 2016
 * 21 Faith Leaders to Watch – Center for American Progress, 2021
 * Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice Award for On Repentance and Repair – 72nd National Jewish Book Awards, 2023.

Writer

 * On Repentance And Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World (2022)
 * Nurture the Wow (2016)
 * Surprised by God (2008)

Editor

 * Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: War and National Security with Elliot Dorff (2010)
 * Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Sex and Intimacy with Elliot Dorff (2010)
 * Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Social Justice with Elliot Dorff (2010)
 * The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism (2009)
 * Yentl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism (2001)
 * Lilith, contributing editor
 * Women in Judaism, contributing editor

Contributor
Book chapters Ruttenberg has written include:
 * Priority Lists: A Dialogue on Judaism, Feminism, and Activism, with Rebecca Alpert in Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice (2013)
 * The Hermenuetics of Curiosity: On Reclamation, in New Jewish Feminism (2008)
 * Fringe Me Up, Fringe Me Down: On Getting Dressed in Jerusalem, in Bitchfest: 10 Years of Writing From the Pages of Bitch Magazine (2006)
 * Towards a New Tzniut, in Yentl's Revenge (2001)

Ruttenberg has also published pieces in The Atlantic, The Forward, The Huffington Post, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Kveller, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle, Sojourners, Tablet Magazine, and The Washington Post, and other publications.