Linda Joy Holtzman

Linda Joy Holtzman is an American rabbi and author. In 1979 she became the first female senior rabbi in the United States when she was hired by Beth Israel Congregation of Chester County, which was then located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. She had graduated that year from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, yet was hired by Beth Israel despite their being a Conservative congregation. She was thus also the first woman to serve as a rabbi for a Conservative congregation, as the Conservative movement did not then ordain women.

She is the author of the article "Struggle, Change and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi" in the book Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation, edited by Rebecca Alpert, Sue Levi Elwell, and Shirley Idelson (Rutgers University Press, 2000). She also wrote a chapter in Twice Blessed (Beacon Press, 1989).

She is now the Adjunct Associate Professor of Practical Rabbinics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the rabbi of Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia. She is also the leader of her local Reconstructionist chevra kadisha.