Angela Buchdahl
Senior Rabbi, Central Synagogue
This episode will air on Thursday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Don’t be afraid of the stranger — and don’t allow others to remain strangers. Leadership begins when we choose connection over fear.
Summary
In this week’s episode of Leadership Matters, Alan Fleischmann is joined by Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and the first woman and first Asian American to lead the historic Reform congregation. Together, they discuss her groundbreaking journey of faith and leadership and her new book, Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.
The conversation explores how Rabbi Buchdahl’s multicultural upbringing and pioneering path shaped her understanding of belonging, empathy, and moral courage. She shares insights on leading through transformation, bridging divides in a time of polarization, and balancing tradition with innovation in modern spiritual life.
Mentions & Resources
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging - by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
Guest Bio
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central’s Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi.
Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor in 1999 and also ordained as a rabbi in 2001 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She earned a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a cantor or rabbi in North America. Prior to her service at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Buchdahl served as Associate Rabbi/Cantor at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via livestream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, and PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of the AJC, the Asia Society, the New York Board of Rabbis, and the Yale University President's Council.
Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.
Episode Transcript
Transcript will be uploaded upon the episode’s premiere.