About

Diana’s Story:

Diana Fersko is the Senior Rabbi of The Village Temple, a Reform synagogue at the heart of downtown Jewish life in New York City.  An internationally recognized author, speaker, and thought leader, she is a defining voice in the contemporary Jewish world, known for her clarity, compassion, and ability to bring Jewish tradition into meaningful dialogue with modern life.  A passionate voice for the Jewish people, Rabbi Fersko is helping to shape the future of Jewish life in New York City.

Civic Leadership:

Rabbi Fersko is deeply engaged in civic life and public leadership in New York City. She proudly serves on the Board of Governors of the New York Board of Rabbis, the largest interdenominational rabbinic body in the world. In this role, she works closely with elected officials, policy makers, law enforcement, and rabbis across every denomination to address pressing moral and social issues.

Additionally, Rabbi Fersko serves on the Board of UJA-Federation of New York, the largest Jewish philanthropy in the world. She frequently represents the Jewish community in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office and the Governor’s Office, working to diminish hate, build coalitions, and promote tolerance.

Since October 7th, UJA-Federation has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to combat antisemitism, rebuild communities in Israel, support Israeli civil society, and provide critical relief. Rabbi Fersko’s leadership has helped elevate Jewish values into the public square with courage, clarity, and compassion.

Advocating for Women:

A passionate advocate for women and girls, Rabbi Fersko is a former National Vice President of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, representing over 700 female rabbis throughout North America. There she advocated for pay equity, fought for greater maternity leave, and found strategic ways to advance women’s rabbinic voices in the public sphere. She continues to serve as a mentor for emerging female rabbis.

In March 2024, Rabbi Fersko addressed the crowd in front of UN Women’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, joined by hundreds of protesters on International Women’s Day chanting “Bring Them Home Now!” and calling attention to the plight of 19 Israeli women still held hostage by Hamas following the October 7th attack. During the rally, she declared: “The cry of ‘Bring Them Home’ has become like the ‘Shema’ for our people…It is our mantra, our demand and our desperate hope.” To confront the rupture between feminism and Judaism after October 7th, Rabbi Fersko co-created Modern Jewess, a national monthly print publication dedicated to elevating the voices and leadership of Jewish women.

Fighting Antisemitism:

Rabbi Fersko has been preaching and teaching about antisemitism for fifteen years.  Overtime, congregants began to share more and more troubling stories of discrimination and bias, and yet there was no national conversation about antisemitism at the time. When, in 2020, her synagogue was attacked with a baseball bat, Rabbi Fersko was compelled to take her message beyond the walls of the congregation and write her debut book, We Need to Talk About Antisemitism (Seal Press/Hachette).  Her painfully prescient book was published in August of 2023, two months before the massacre of October 7th.  As a professional public speaker, Fersko went on to tour the country – speaking in over 40 venues within and beyond the Jewish community including the 92Y, Yale University (where she was protested against and escorted out by police), The Jewish Museum, and proudly served as the keynote speaker for the annual Jewish War Veterans conference.  We Need to Talk About Antisemitism was celebrated as “eye-opening and thought-provoking” by Kirkus Reviews, named Most Timely and Important Book by Zibby Media, selected as part of the Jewish Book Council’s annual book club guide, and endorsed by trailblazing Jewish thinkers including Natan Sharansky and Matti Friedman.  Rabbi Fersko has published widely on antisemitism including as a contributor to the USA Today Bestselling book, On Being Jewish Now (Zibby Media 2025).