Bio:

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso,D. Min.
Congregation Beth-El Zedeck
600 W. 70th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46260
Phone: 317/253-3441
Fax: 317/259-6849
E-mail: ssasso@bez613.org

Synopsis:
Rabbi of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis since 1977. Rabbi Sasso is active 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. 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, an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Franklin College. Rabbi Sasso is the author of the nationally acclaimed children's books, God's Paintbrush, In God's Name, But God Remembered: Stories of Women From Creation to the Promised Land and A Prayer for the Earth (now titled Noah’s Wife; The Story of Naamah,), God In Between, For Heaven’s Sake, God Said Amen and Cain and Abel: Finding the Fruits of Peace and Adam and Eve’s First Sunset. She is the co-author of God’s Paintbrush Celebration Kit: A Spiritual Activity Kit for Teachers and Students. Publisher’s Weekly selected two of her books, But God Remembered and A Prayer for the Earth, (now titled Noah’s Wife; The Story of Na’amah) as Best Books of the Year. Abuelita’s Secret Matzahs is the winner of the 2005 Sugarman Family Children’s Book Award and the 2006 Best Books of Indiana Award. Her latest children’s book, Butterflies Under Our Hats, was published in April, 2006. She is one of the editors of Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World’s Religious Traditions. Her newest book, God’s Echo was published in spring, 2007. She edited Urban Tapestry, Indianapolis Stories, Indiana University Press. She writes a monthly column in The Indianapolis Star on religious and spirituality issues. In July 2000, she was a keynote speaker at the first International Conference on the Spiritual Life of Children in West Sussex, England. She is the 2004 recipient of the Helen Keating Ott Award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Literature and the 2005 Sugarman Family Award for Jewish Children’s Literature.

Rabbi Sasso is a Theological Advisor for the Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. She is Past President of Spirit and Place, an annual festival in Indiana celebrating the Arts, Religion and Humanities, Past-President of the Indianapolis Board of Rabbis, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Past-President of Gleaners Food Bank. She is lecturer in Religion and Judaism at Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

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. Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and her husband are the first practicing rabbinical couple in world Jewish history. They are the parents of two children, David and Debbie.


Writer
Full Member
Member since 1992
Region: Indiana

Contact Information

Website:  http://www.bez613.org

Published In Children's Market: Yes