After 288 flights between Arizona and California over a four-year period to attend rabbinical school, Nina Perlmutter received her rabbinical ordination on May 25 from The Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR-CA).
Although the end of her weekly commute across state lines - which for some years included a 5 a.m. shuttle from Prescott to Sky Harbor Airport to arrive in time for a 10 a.m. Sunday class in L.A. - has freed up her schedule a bit, her calendar remains full.
After receiving ordination on a Monday, she served on a beit din that Wednesday, taught an eco-theology class on Thursday and attended a rededication ceremony at Heichal Baoranim on Friday. The latter is a Reform synagogue in Flagstaff, where she is now serving as spiritual leader; she previously served there as a student rabbi.
Perlmutter lives near Prescott and will commute to Flagstaff two weekends a month to lead Shabbat services and conduct life-cycle events for the temple.
In addition, she is the contact for Jewish services and programs at Grand Canyon National Park, where she plans to hold monthly Shabbat services and teach Eco-Judaism classes. She is also the contact person for Jewish ceremonies held at the park.
Perlmutter, who has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from City College of New York and a master's degree in philosophy from Arizona State University, served more than two decades as chairperson of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program at Yavapai College in Prescott. She is now an emeritus faculty member of the college and teaches Jewish studies and environmental ethics there.
"I'm very lucky," she says. "I'm able to combine my passion in both of these areas." After graduating from AJR-CA this month, she will also have her master's degree in rabbinic studies.
Perlmutter is a member of Temple B'rith Shalom in Prescott, where she served as rabbinic intern January-July 2008, and is the president of the Chevra Kadisha of Northern Arizona, a burial society that she helped found in 2004.
Perlmutter says she grew up "in a very passionately Jewishly involved family" and credits her parents for modeling Jewish communal and interfaith leadership. Her father, Nathan Perlmutter, served as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League from 1979 until his death in 1987.
"I see myself adding to the kind of Jewish experience that I grew up with," she says. "It was a little shift for me to own my own way to be Jewish, which was more spiritually grounded." Her plans include working on interfaith and intrafaith relations and "being a bridge to the unaffiliated."
"I really am a transdenominational Jew," she says. "I'm committed to Judaism, not just any one form of Judaism. I learn from across the spectrum."
Another local graduate of the AJR-CA, a transdenominational, pluralistic institution in Los Angeles, is Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman, who also commuted from Arizona for classes; she founded Kehillah of Arizona in 2008.
Perlmutter's husband of 30 years, Tom Brodersen, is a certified Jewish meditation teacher, and in 2001 they founded Lev Chadash, an organization that runs Jewish learning experiences such as meditation workshops and healing prayer sessions.
"He's my dearest Jewish study partner and supporter who has put up with weekly separations for four years," she says. "We look forward to seeing more of each other."
