Rabbi and Eco-Chaplain Katy Z. Allen

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and spiritual leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope. She began her career as a biology teacher, turned to writing and editing educational materials, then started teaching Hebrew school and became involved in family and adult education before entering rabbinical school. She received a Masters of Arts in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College in Newton, MA, in 1999, and rabbinic ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, in 2005 and is a Board Certified Chaplain through Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains. For ten years, Katy served as a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and then as a hospice chaplain. She is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Jewish Climate Action Network  and consideres herself an eco-chaplain.  

Rabbi Katy writes about matters of the spirit and the world (and encourages others to write) and blogs at here. She is certified as a Bibliodramatist by Peter and Susan Pitzele, and has published Loss and Transformation: One Women's Journey Out of Grief to Opportunity, which is based on her senior rabbinic project, and Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season, with reflections on Earth and t'shuvah by many writers. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of Jewcology.org, Jewish Veg and Shomrei Bereshit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth.

Rabbi Katy can be reached at rabbi@ mayantikvah.org.