Our Rabbis
Rabbi Alexandra Wright
Rabbi Alexandra Wright grew up at the LJS and was ordained at Leo Baeck College in 1986. She served as Associate Rabbi at The LJS under the guidance of Rabbi David Goldberg and Rabbi John Rayner from 1986-89.
From 1990-2003 she was Rabbi at Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue, where she founded and established The Learning Circle, the only Jewish adult learning centre in the area, sponsored by four Liberal, Reform and Masorti synagogues in conjunction with Spiro Ark. During that time, she taught classical Hebrew at Leo Baeck College, an elective in the Maharal of Prague and for a number of years co-ordinated the tutorial system for students. She is active in the Council of Christians and Jews and for five years served as the North London Hospice’s Jewish chaplain on their multi-faith chaplaincy team.
Rabbi Wright has contributed to Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel, anthologies of essays and liturgies by women rabbis, edited by Rabbis Sybil Sheridan and Sylvia Rothschild. Together with fellow Liberal and Reform rabbis, she also edited the current Pesach Haggadah.
On 19 July 2022, Rabbi Wright was elected as President of Liberal Judaism.
Rabbi Igor Zinkov
I am a graduate of London’s Leo Baeck College originally from Chelyabinsk in Russia, where I was a service leader for our local reform community. My first degree was in electronic engineering and I worked in business before embarking upon my rabbinic journey which took me to Moscow and then on to Jerusalem. I have extensive youth work experience in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and have worked with several organisations including Hillel, Netzer Olami, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Birthright, and The Jewish Agency for Israel.
In 2016, I became the spiritual leader and co-director of the international Russian speaking Jewish summer camp Jerusalem Tale, and a visiting Rabbi with the Estonian Jewish community. I joined The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in 2018 as a rabbinic student following my internship at Westminster Synagogue.
I received my rabbinic ordination from Leo Baeck College in 2019, and obtained an MA in Jewish Theology and Hebrew from Middlesex University. Soon after ordination, I was proud to become the latest full time rabbi to join the LJS where I enjoy the warm and friendly atmosphere of the community, the intellectual and spiritual engagement of its members, and creative approach of our team and many volunteers. My hobbies are music, playing guitar, and technology, and I feel blessed to be able to combine them all as part of my rabbinic service at the LJS.
Rabbi Elana Dellal
Hailing from the Reform movement in Wisconsin, Elana pursued Judaic Studies at the University of Minnesota, fueled by her teenage aspiration of becoming a rabbi. Her rabbinic training at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati was briefly interrupted when she took a year-long leave to serve as the Education Consultant for Liberal Judaism in the UK, immersing herself in the congregations of the local movement.
After her ordination in 2011, Elana spent three years as a congregational Rabbi at Temple Sholom in Cincinnati, supporting the Senior Rabbi in worship, education, and pastoral care while facilitating programming for young families. Pastoral care emerged as her true calling, prompting her to complete a chaplaincy residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, focusing on crisis support and pediatric psychiatric spiritual support, followed by serving as the Rabbi of a Jewish hospice in Cincinnati.
In July 2018, Elana's path led her to London, where she joined the rabbinic team at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue. She embraces her dual roles as the Rabbi of the Rimon religion school and as a Chaplain at Kingston Hospital, currently training to become a certified supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education. With a profound love for Jewish texts, culture, music, history, social justice, and community, Elana brings a wealth of passion and expertise to her work. She resides in London with her husband George and their three sons, Jonah, Oliver, and Raphael, along with their adorable black-and-white kitten, Talulah.
