Official Bio

Elana Zaiman loves connecting with people. In her book, The Forever Letter, she encourages us to deepen, heal, and uplift our relationships with the people who matter to us most. Elana is the first woman rabbi from a family spanning six generations of rabbis. She serves as an inspirational speaker, a scholar-in-residence, and a workshop facilitator to audiences throughout North America. She’s a chaplain at a retirement community in Seattle; a certified Wise Aging instructor (IJS), and adjunct faculty at a local Seattle hospital’s CPE Program. For ten years she served as the Ethics and Spirituality columnist for LivFun, a publication for Leisure Care retirement facilities in 10 states. She has also been published in The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, Post Road, American Letters & Commentary, and elsewhere. Close to her heart is the Seattle Limbe Sewing Circle, which as a co-partner, Elana helped to expand beyond the walls of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Seattle. The Seattle Limbe Sewing Circle is an intergenerational and interracial community which brings together Jews, Muslims, and Christians to create feminine hygiene kits for girls in Cameroon, Africa. Elana lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and son.

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