{"id":5983,"date":"2016-06-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T15:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T22:17:31","slug":"alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna Rabbi Denise L. Eger is a voice of the people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2368-690x432.jpg\"\n                    data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Alumna Rabbi Denise L. Eger is a voice of the people\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Rabbi Denise Eger\u2019s dedication to social activism was shaped by her early years growing up in the South surrounded by the civil rights movement. &#8220;That inspired me to see that wherever there\u2019s injustice and oppression, good people can\u2019t stay silent,\u201d she said. Photos courtesy of Denise Eger.\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=alumni\">Alumni<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Alumna Rabbi Denise L. Eger is a voice of the people<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Serving Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif., Denise Eger uses her rabbinate as a platform for social activism, advocating for the LGBT community and other groups.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Michelle Boston<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">June 29, 2016<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n      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class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>When Rabbi Denise Eger was ordained in 1988, she began her rabbinical career serving a gay synagogue in Los Angeles. It was the height of the AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Daily, she would make trips around the city to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, LAC+USC Medical Center or Sherman Oaks Hospital to visit young patients being treated for the disease. At that time, the fear of AIDS \u2014 and particularly those who were living with it \u2014 was palpable, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese were the years when families just wouldn\u2019t visit their children. They rejected them,\u201d recalled Eger, who earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in religion from USC Dornsife in 1982. \u201cThe nurses wouldn\u2019t walk into the patients\u2019 rooms, they were so afraid.\u201d Etched in her mind is the memory of having to help some of the patients eat because they were too weak to feed themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was 28 years old and working every day to bury young men who passed away,\u201d Eger said. \u201cThose years shaped me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eger, who is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami, a Reform Jewish synagogue in West Hollywood, Calif., remains committed to helping those who are marginalized, and uses her rabbinate as a platform for social activism. She also serves as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), which is the largest and oldest organization of rabbis in North America. Eger is the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi to hold the position as head of the Reform rabbis.<\/p>\n<p>She advocates for issues of social justice, including equal rights for the LGBT community, prison reform, racial equality and economic justice. Last summer she and members of CCAR marched with the NAACP from Selma, Ala., to Washington, D.C., as part of a \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naacp.org\/ajfj\">Journey for Justice<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-portrait news-image-right\">\n<figure style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Eger2-2368.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Right\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denise Eger, shown here at Commencement in 1982, was the first student to earn a Jewish studies minor at USC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>She was also active in campaigns against Proposition 8 and Proposition 22 in California, which both sought to limit marriage for same-sex couples. She served on the boards of organizations that fought the ballot initiatives and spoke at rallies across the country. In fact, Eger performed the wedding ceremony on the steps of the Beverly Hills Courthouse for the first same-sex couple in L.A. County to be married in 2008 after the California Supreme Court ruled against the Prop. 8 marriage ban.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving worked so hard for so many years to see us come to a world where I can say, \u2018By the power vested in me by the state of California,\u2019 that was a profound moment for me,\u201d Eger said.<\/p>\n<h2>From the South to Southern California<\/h2>\n<p>Eger\u2019s early years were spent in the South, which cultivated the roots of her dedication to social activism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up in Memphis, Tenn., where Dr. King was murdered, you can\u2019t help but be surrounded by the civil rights struggle,\u201d Eger said. She recalled Jewish friends whose families\u2019 homes and businesses were the targets of hate crimes. \u201cThis is a legacy that is very important to my daily life growing up. That inspired me to see that wherever there\u2019s injustice and oppression, good people can\u2019t stay silent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After high school, Eger studied music at the University of Memphis. She aspired to be a cantor, the Jewish religious official who sings the liturgical portions of a service including prayers. But, when she visited a seminary in New York to pursue that career path, she was put off when told that she was too young to study for the profession.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided then and there that I wanted to leave Memphis and think about what it was that I wanted to do with my life,\u201d Eger said.<\/p>\n<p>She transferred to USC to study religion. \u201cIt didn\u2019t hurt that that year USC went to the Rose Bowl and I saw the team explode in \u201978 and \u201979 on TV,\u201d laughed Eger, an avid sports fan.<\/p>\n<h2>A Jewish Scholar<\/h2>\n<p>Eger threw herself into Jewish life at the university. As a member of USC Hillel, Eger worked closely with the organization\u2019s director at the time, Rabbi Laura Geller. Geller is the first female rabbi to lead a major metropolitan congregation, and the third woman ever in the Jewish Reform Movement to be ordained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt USC, I got the chance to work every day with a woman rabbi and see what that was like,\u201d Eger said. \u201cThat really solidified my passion for the rabbinate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eger also served as an outreach worker for then-USC President James Zumberge\u2019s office to build connections with the Jewish community in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt very privileged,\u201d Eger said. \u201cJust two years before, I had been a young person from Memphis who knew nothing about the big city of Los Angeles, and within a year I was blessed to have amazing experiences on campus, immediately getting into college life. That was really a growing period for me, and the kindness and mentorship that I received at USC really helped launch me in a way that I will forever be grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She recalled fondly studying with faculty members who inspired her, such as John Crossley of religion, with whom she worked on an honors thesis. \u201cHe was somebody who really took an interest in my well-being and academic excellence, and he pushed me, which I think helped me in all of my classes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eger was the first-ever student to earn a minor in Jewish studies, a program offered in partnership with the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, just a few blocks from USC\u2019s University Park campus.<\/p>\n<p>At HUC-JIR, Eger felt lucky to learn from some of \u201cthe greatest Jewish scholars.\u201d She studied medieval Jewish philosophy with Rabbi David Ellenson and learned about ancient Israel during the time when Jesus was alive from Rabbi Michael Signer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe relationship between Hebrew Union College and USC is a unique gem,\u201d Eger said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that really offered me an opportunity to be in a place at USC that, coming from Tennessee, I might not have ever considered.\u201d It\u2019s also where she studied to become a rabbi before being ordained on the college\u2019s New York campus.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cVoice of my people\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>From Eger\u2019s office at Kol Ami, which means \u201cvoice of My people\u201d in Hebrew, she has a view into the synagogue\u2019s small sanctuary. The following verse from the prophet Micah is stenciled on the wall: \u201cWhat does God require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line embodies Eger\u2019s philosophy as a rabbi and what she hopes to impart to her congregants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really sums up for me what our purpose on Earth is,\u201d she explained. \u201cIf we\u2019re doing the work of justice and we\u2019re being compassionate human beings and we\u2019re trying to walk with humility alongside our higher power, the world would be a much better place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/hd-and-bryher-a-hidden-love-story\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >English professor charts out the hidden love story between two iconic, early 20th-century women<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/nsf-graduate-fellowships-help-sustainable-chemistry-research\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Students pursue big ideas in cleaner water, better batteries and diversity<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/supreme-court-justice-decisions-unexpected\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >When Supreme Court justices defy expectations<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serving Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif., Denise Eger uses her rabbinate as a platform for social activism, advocating for the LGBT community and other groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":5986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[115,264,488,197,1084],"class_list":["post-5983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-activism","tag-alumni","tag-judaism","tag-lgbtq","tag-rabbi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alumna Rabbi Denise L. Eger is a voice of the people<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Serving Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif., Denise Eger uses her rabbinate as a platform for social activism.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumna Rabbi Denise L. Eger is a voice of the people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Serving Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif., Denise Eger uses her rabbinate as a platform for social activism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-29T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-28T22:17:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2368.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Liu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dornsife.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/stories\\\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dornsife.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/stories\\\/alumna-rabbi-denise-l-eger-is-a-voice-of-the-people\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Liu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dornsife.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d03084ed5319ed7575c96017879a7447\"},\"headline\":\"Alumna Rabbi Denise L. 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