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Before rabbinical school, the New York Times called him "a virtuoso of an exuberant actor."
Learn more.

“My rabbinic mission is… pushing boundaries, pushing envelopes, pushing limits, challenging people to think about the Judaism that we’ve gotten...and if that really represents the totality of what Judaism has to offer.

Watch a two-minute video profile of Rabbi Darby Leigh at RRC.

Read the video transcript.

Meet Rabbi Darby Jared Leigh, '08

“I knew I wanted to become a rabbi. I wanted to sing and dance and pray, to engage people in this search for truth. But I pushed the thought away. A deaf rabbi?”

Darby Jared Leigh, born profoundly deaf, won acclaim as an actor and musical performer. Yet he thought he could never become a rabbi—until he found RRC. Today he leads a thriving congregation and appears in a new ABC documentary. Follow his path in the videos, text and links on this page.

Finding Torah in the Music of Twisted Sister
Growing up Deaf in the mainstream means that one lives a minority experience. Some people might say that that being Jewish in North America also constitutes a minority experience. The heavy metal and punk music genres of the late 1970s and early to mid1980s often spoke to confusion, rage and alienation—feelings that sometimes emerge from the experience of being “different.”

The band Twisted Sister, in particular, had a significant impact on my youth and development because in addition to speaking to alienation, the band expressed support for non
-conformity and pride in being who you are.
As an adolescent growing up in New York City, I found that the lyrics of Twisted Sister songs were my Torah.

It doesn't matter what the others think,
what counts is do you like you?
You think you're drownin' but you'll never sink
just do what you wanna do. 
—From Lookin' Out for Number 1

PS: Let’s not over-analyze it; after all it’s only rock and roll.

Rabbi Darby Jared Leigh
Bnai Keshet Reconstructionist Synagogue

 

Look for A Place for All: Faith and Community for Persons With Disabilities, featuring Rabbi Darby Leigh, coming to an ABC station in your area through February 7, 2010.

Order a copy from Diva Communications.

Selected airtimes and dates:

Boston – WCVB
December 13, 1 p.m.

Chicago – WLS
December 13, 12 noon

Los Angeles – KABC 
Date December 12,  2:30 a.m.
Call General Mgr. Arnold Kleiner to request another airtime!
818.863.7777

New Haven – WTNH
December 6, 11:30 a.m.

New York – WABC
December 27, 1:30 p.m.

Orlando – WFTV
December 26, 2 p.m. 

Philadelphia – WPVI
December 13, 4:30 a.m.
Call General Mgr. Bernie Prazenica to request another airtime! 215.581.4584

Washington DC region – WJLA
Call General Mgr. Bill Lord to request a local broadcast!  703.236.9552

Review a list of ABC affiliates  that have announced airdates and times.