Reuben Zellman

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| name = Reuben Zellman

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| image = Reuben Zellman 20130626-0748.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|39|2018|08|01}}

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| nationality = American

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| alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
San Francisco State University

| occupation = Rabbi
Musician

| employer = San Francisco State University
San Francisco Community Music Center

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Reuben Zellman is an American teacher, author, rabbi, and musician. He became the first openly transgender person accepted to the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.jta.org/news/article/0000/00/00/10040/Reformmovementacce |first=Joe|last= Berkofsky|title=HUC admits transgendered pupil |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=2003-03-11|accessdate=2014-01-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130415083631/http://www.jta.org/news/article/0000/00/00/10040/Reformmovementacce |archivedate=2013-04-15 }}{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/11403/reform-devises-sex-change-blessings-/ |title=Reform Devises Sex-Change Blessings – |publisher=Forward.com |date=2007-08-15 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}{{cite book|first=Justin Jaron|last= Lewis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ryGT9ZMBi4cC&q=%22Reuben+Zellman%22&pg=PA193 |title=Imagining Holiness: Classic Hasidic Tales in Modern Times |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |date=2009 |isbn= 9780773535190|accessdate=2013-10-13}}

Education

Zellman received his B.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his master's degree in Hebrew literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. He was ordained as a rabbi by the seminary in 2010.{{cite web|last=Spence|first=Rebecca|url=https://forward.com/news/14854/transgender-jews-now-out-of-closet-seeking-commun-03088/ |title=Transgender Jews Now Out of Closet, Seeking Communal Recognition – |publisher=Forward.com |date=2008-12-31 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}{{cite web|title=The Reform Movement on LGBT Issues|url=http://www.jewishmosaic.org/page/load_page/50 |accessdate=March 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511235836/http://www.jewishmosaic.org/page/load_page/50 |archivedate=May 11, 2013 }}{{cite web |title=Rabbi Zellman Farewell Shabbat |url=http://www.bethelberkeley.org/rabbi-zellman-farewell-shabbat |website=Congregation Beth El |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |archive-date=October 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007223319/http://www.bethelberkeley.org/rabbi-zellman-farewell-shabbat |url-status=dead }} He received a master's in choral conducting from San Francisco State University.

Career

From 2010 to 2018, Zellman served as the assistant rabbi and music director at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, California.{{cite web|url=http://www.transtorah.org/whoweare.html |title=Who We Are |publisher=TransTorah |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/58262/the-early-shift-bimah-bound-a-transformative-experience/ |title=The early shift, Bimah-bound, A transformative experience | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California |newspaper=J |publisher=Jweekly.com |date=2010-06-03 |accessdate=2013-10-13}} He is a lecturer in the music department of San Francisco State University, where he directs the Treble Singers, formerly known as the Women's Chorus.{{cite news |last1=Madison |first1=Alex |title=Music center launches genderqueer chorus |url=https://www.ebar.com/news/news//263418 |newspaper=Bay Area Reporter |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |date=August 1, 2018}}{{cite web |title=Reuben Zellman |url=https://music.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/reuben-zellman |website=School of Music |publisher=San Francisco State University |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |archive-date=September 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903133247/https://music.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/reuben-zellman |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Reuben Zellman |url=https://sfcmc.org/about/faculty/zellman-reuben/ |website=San Francisco Community Music Center |accessdate=October 7, 2018}} Zellman also directs the New Voices Bay Area TIGQ Chorus, a chorus for transgender, intersex, and genderqueer singers, at the Community Music Center in San Francisco.{{cite news |title=New Voices choir invites transgender singers |url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/new-voices-choir-invites-transgender-singers/ |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |newspaper=San Francisco Examiner |date=July 26, 2018 |archive-date=October 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007223224/http://www.sfexaminer.com/new-voices-choir-invites-transgender-singers/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last1=Freymann |first1=Jeffrey |title=New Voices Bay Area Makes its Debut |url=https://www.kdfc.com/2018/11/new-voices-bay-area-makes-its-debut/ |website=KDFC |accessdate=November 22, 2018 |date=November 19, 2018 |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122215718/https://www.kdfc.com/2018/11/new-voices-bay-area-makes-its-debut/ |url-status=dead }} He sings as a countertenor in the Choir of Men and Boys at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Zellman is on the staff of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, an LGBTQ+ synagogue.{{Cite web |title=Our Staff |url=https://shaarzahav.org/our-staff/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=Sha'ar Zahav}}

Zellman writes and teaches about transgender issues and Judaism.{{cite web |url=http://ijso.huc.edu/about/staff/ |title=About the IJSO › Staff |publisher=Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13 |archive-date=2020-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516202546/http://ijso.huc.edu/about/staff/ |url-status=dead }} With Elliot Kukla, Joy Ladin, Max Strassfeld, and Jhos Singer, he founded TransTorah.org to help “people of all genders to fully access and transform Jewish tradition, and helps Jewish communities to be welcoming sanctuaries for people of all genders.”{{Cite news |last=Wilensky |first=David A.M. |date=2017-06-07 |title=Beyond he and she: New expressions of gender arrive in the rabbinate |url=https://jweekly.com/2017/06/07/beyond-he-and-she-new-expressions-of-gender-in-the-rabbinate/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241226045535/https://jweekly.com/2017/06/07/beyond-he-and-she-new-expressions-of-gender-in-the-rabbinate/ |archive-date=2024-12-26 |access-date=2025-02-25 |work=J. |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=TransTorah > Who We Are |url=http://www.transtorah.org/whoweare.html |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=www.transtorah.org}}

He has been involved with transgender activism since 1999, the year he transitioned.

Personal life

Zellman was born and raised in California, and has lived mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996. Zellman is intersex and identifies as neither male nor female.{{cite web |author1=Gender Spectrum |title=Interview with Rabbi Rueben [sic] Zellman |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8zATrORm4g |via=YouTube |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |date=August 1, 2018}} In 1999 he adopted he/his pronouns and a masculine gender expression, as he experienced harassment and felt it was "very dangerous" to have a non-binary presentation at that time.