Rabbi Bio

 
Rabbi Valerie Lieber

Rabbi Valerie Lieber is thrilled to be the spiritual leader of Temple Anshe Amunim as of July 2025. She relishes her new life in the Berkshires - a huge change after 35 years in New York City.

Rabbi Val was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana where she grew up as an active member of her Reform Temple.  She attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania,graduated with honors in English Literature and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 

Until June 2025 she was the Director of Education & Family Programs at (Conservative congregation) Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where she served for 17 school years. For six years prior she served as the rabbi of Temple Israel of Jamaica in Queens, NY. Following her ordination from Hebrew Union College in 1995, she was the rabbi and religious school director of Temple Beth Ahavath Sholom of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn for seven years.

In 2015 Rabbi Val was named one of the Most Inspiring Rabbis by the “Jewish Forward.”

She has written several interpretations of weekly Torah and Haftarah portions published in a number of books. Among them are an interpretation of the weekly Torah portion Emor, “Elitism in the Levitical Priesthood,” in The Women’s Torah Commentary edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein; a chapter on the Haftarah portion in which Elijah plays a major role in The Women’s Haftarah Commentary also edited by Goldstein; and an essay on Parashat Toldot in The Torah, A Women’s Commentary published by the Women of Reform Judaism. 

Rabbi Val has been an environmentalist since high school and has ridden on 4 Hazon New York Bike Rides to raise money to educate Jewish institutions about sustainability. She co-chaired the steering committee for the 2012 ride. A cycling enthusiast following those rides, she then rode for 5 years from Sturbridge, Ma to Provincetown in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise money for Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The riding in the Berkshires is tough but gorgeous. 

She and her wife Leah Kopperman bought a home in Pittsfield in fall 2020. In addition to cycling, she has enjoyed planting and tending a pollinator garden in their yard. She enjoys doing the NY Times crossword and connections puzzles. She loves spending time with her 7 nieces and nephews and 1 great niece - and their parents, her 3 siblings.