Martha Ackelsberg

Biography

Martha Ackelsberg joined BJ about 7 years ago, when she moved to NYC upon her retirement from teaching political science and women’s studies at Smith College in Northampton, MA. She co-chairs the BJ/SPSA Racial Justice Task Force, and, together with her partner, Judith Plaskow, has facilitated a number of havurot and study groups. About 45 years ago, she was one of a number of people excommunicated by a group of Orthodox rabbis in Baltimore for her participation in Breira, an organization calling for a two-state solution to the Palestine/Israel conflict.