Rabbi Lily Kowalski, RJE was ordained in 2019 by Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion on the Jack H. Skirball campus in Los Angeles, CA. Her rabbinic capstone entitled “Tzelem-Esteem – How Our Communication Affects Our Interpersonal Relationships” is a text immersion project on the power of language to create, destroy, and repair interpersonal relationships.

She received a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters from HUC in 2017 and a Masters of Arts in Jewish Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC in 2016.  The latter culminated with the production of a curriculum guide titled “Between the Lines, Beyond the Page: Jewish Texts Intersecting with Creative Arts,” driven by her passion for fusing pop culture with Jewish texts and values.

Rabbi Kowalski was granted the prestigious title of Reform Jewish Educator by the RJE Title-Granting Commission in January 2023. The designation of RJE is bestowed upon Jewish educators who meet certain criteria in areas of experience and training and is a joint measure of the major stakeholders of organizational Reform Judaism, including ARJE, CCAR, HUC, and the URJ. Full information can be found on the ARJE website, under the RJE header.

Rounding out her educational experiences, Lily earned her Bachelors of Arts in 2008 from Brandeis University, where she studied Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Music (focusing on Cultural Studies), and Women’s and Gender Studies.  She graduated from Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central Senior High School in 2004.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Rabbi Kowalski continues to hone her professional skills with on-going engagement in the CCAR, ARJE, and WRN in addition to attending annual conferences, such as NewCAJE, Songleader Boot Camp, and Yad BeYad among others. During her time as a student at HUC, Rabbi Kowalski participated in the HUC/PARDeS (now Prizmah) Reform Day School Externship in Miami, FL in 2016 and studied with the iCenter in Chicago, IL, where she earned a Master’s Concentration in Israel Education as an iFellow, also in 2016, as well as completing their Conflicts of Interest Certificate in 2024. She is currently scheduled to participate in the 12th cohort of the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute, beginning in March 2026.

Hebrew Union College named her the Women of Reform Judaism Rabbinic Scholarship recipient for the 2016-2017 academic year and the Rabbi Isaiah and Florence Zeldin Endowed Rabbinic Scholarship for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic year. She takes great pride in both of these honors, knowing the phenomenal work of the WRJ firsthand through many events at her childhood congregation, Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, NY, with their vibrant WRJ chapter and benefitting from the Zeldin family even further, learning directly from their son Michael Zeldin, former Senior National Director of the HUC-JIR Schools of Education. Furthermore, she received the Paul M. Gans Scholarship from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York in Albany for four of her six years at HUC.

Throughout her time as a student at HUC, Rabbi Kowalski served a number of communities as a student rabbi or rabbinic intern, including Temple Chai in Phoenix, AZ; Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, NY; Temple Judea in Tarzana, CA; Temple Shalom in Yakima, WA; Santa Monica Synagogue in Santa Monica, CA; Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, CA; and Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills, CA.  She also worked at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as a chaplaincy intern. She previously served as one of the Rabbis and Director of Education at Temple Israel in Tulsa, OK and as Associate Rabbi and Director of Education at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal, Quebec.