Published: 3 July 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
SAMANTHA ZERIN HEADED HOME from a Yiddish class she had taught as part of her synagogue’s adult education program on the evening of Dec. 19 and knew her life was about to change. That evening, the 775 families at Temple Emanu-El would be getting a message that she knew would surprise some of the people she had gotten to know since joining the community 3 1/2 years earlier.
“Over the past several years, Sam has been exploring Sam’s gender identity,” read a message sent to the congregation from Samantha and her wife, Rachel. “This has been a journey for both of us, full of introspection, learning, and growth. Through this journey, we have come to realize that, although Sam was raised as a boy, she is in fact a woman, and she is ready to begin living her life publicly as such.”
The email marked the culmination of a years-long process in Zerin’s life — a rebirth, almost, from the gender identity in which she had been raised to the full expression of the one she had come to understand had always been inside her.
It also marked a significant moment for American synagogues: Rachel Zerin is the associate rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, a Conservative congregation in Providence, Rhode Island. Samantha Zerin had looked into whether there were any other spouses of congregational rabbis who transitioned whom she could contact for support. She wasn’t able to find any.
FULL STORY Becoming a rebbetzin: What it’s like to come out as transgender when you’re married to the rabbi (JTA)
Photo: Samantha Zerin struggled with her gender for years before coming out as transgender (Courtesy of Zerin)
