Dianne Cohler-Esses

Dianne Cohler-Esses, who grew up in New York, is the first Syrian-Jewish woman to become a rabbi. She was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1995. She has since worked as an administrator and educator for many institutions including the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, the Bronfman youth fellowships, the Curriculum Initiative, and the UJA Federation. In 2012, the Jewish community organization Romemu chose her as its new education director.

She is married to Larry Cohler-Esses, with whom she has three children: Ayelet, Elichai, and Shira. She lives in New York City on the Upper West Side.

The 2022 art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, shown among other places at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, featured art about twenty-four female rabbis who were firsts in some way; Siona Benjamin created the artwork about Cohler-Esses that was in that exhibit.