Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-el Zedeck in Indianapolis and author of many award-winning children's books, endorsed by Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious leaders. Several have been translated into Spanish, German, Italian, and Hebrew.
Rabbi Sasso received her B.A. Magna Cum Laude and M.A. from Temple University. She was ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1974 and received her Doctor of Divinity after 25 years in the rabbinate. She is the recipient of a Doctorate of Ministry from Christian Theological Seminary, an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from DePauw University, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Butler University and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Sasso is in the arts, civic, and interfaith communities and has written and lectured on women and spirituality and the discovery of the religious imagination in children. She is a Past-President of the Indianapolis Board of Rabbis, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Past-President of Gleaners Food Bank. She is the Founder of the Religion, Spirituality and the Arts Initiative.
Rabbi Sasso has been honored as one of the "Influential Women in Indiana" by the Indianapolis Business Journal and was featured among "Indy’s Most Influential Clergy" by NUVO News Weekly. She is the recipient of the "Sagamore of the Wabash", the highest civilian honor awarded by the Governor of the State of Indiana.
Rabbi Sasso was the first woman ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the first to serve a Conservative congregation together with her husband, Rabbi Dennis C. Sasso. She and her husband are the first practicing rabbinical couple in world Jewish history. They are the parents of two children, David and Debbie, and grandparents of Darwin, Ari, and Levi.
Read for:
- Models of hospitality and openness across religious lines
- Bringing wonder, kindness, faith, and imagination alive
- Helping children develop their spiritual lives
