Rabbi Séverine Sokol
B’nai Chaim welcomed Rabbi Séverine Sokol as our Rabbi in July of 2011. She previously served as Rabbi and Director of Education for Congregation Kol Am in Chesterfield, MO since 2005. There she was very active in the St. Louis Jewish community as a member of the Jewish educator’s council, contributing writer for the Jewish newspaper and leading projects with the local Holocaust museum.
Rabbi Séverine's path to becoming a rabbi is a story of dedication and perseverance to achieve a dream. Raised in Lyon, France, she graduated from college in France and went on to the Leo Baeck College - Centre for Jewish Education in London where she earned her Master’s Degree in Hebrew and Jewish Studies before her studies for the rabbinate. She studied in London because no Reform rabbinical school exists in France. During that time she also studied in Jerusalem and did student rabbinates throughout England and France. In 2003, she was ordained, becoming only the 2nd French female rabbi and the first of Sephardic origin.
Following 2-years as rabbi and director of the religious school for a congregation in Nottingham, England, she moved with her husband and new daughter to his hometown of St. Louis. She has been involved in a great many innovative and educational projects particularly of an international flavor. Together with her husband she was responsible for a number of other projects related to the arts in the St. Louis area.
Rabbi Sokol has now relocated to the Denver area with her husband Neal, and their three children – Mazal, Odeliah, and Nissim.