Abby Stein: From Rabbi to Trans Activist
Saturday, November 23, 2019 • 25 Cheshvan 5780
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM“From Rabbi to Trans Activist”
Transgender activist Abby Stein will discuss her journey from ultra-orthodox rabbi to woman of trans experience. Stein’s Hasidic community in Williamsburg believed that, as a 10th generation of the Baal Shem Tov, she was destined to be a rabbinic leader. They also believed she was a boy. But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl, and eventually orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity—a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. Less than five years later, she is a sought-after speaker and prominent activist for gender equality, serving on the steering committee for the 2019 Women’s March.
Abby Stein is a Jewish educator, author, speaker, and activist. She was born and raised in a Hasidic family of rabbinic descent, and is a direct descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism. Abby attended Yeshiva, completing a rabbinical degree in 2011. In 2012, she left the Hasidic world to explore a self-determined life. In 2015 Abby came out as a woman of trans experience. Since coming out, she has been working to raise support and awareness for trans rights and those leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy.
Her story has been covered in the New York Times, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Jewish Daily Forward, Daily Mail, NBC, Vogue, InStyle, and more, as well as live appearances on CNN, Fox News, HuffPost Live, ShowTime, NowThis, PopSugar and internationally. In 2016, Abby was named by The Jewish Week as one of the “36 Under 36” young Jews who are inspiring change in the world. In 2018 she was awarded the Pride Award by the Brooklyn Borough President. She studied gender studies and political science at Columbia University in New York City.
Abby's book Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, a coming-of-age memoir, will be published by Seal Press in November 2019.
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