Rabbi Swedroe reads from the newly dedicated Sefer Torah on February 11, 2018. Also pictured from L-R are David Goldblatt, Jennifer Rubin, Fai Lee Steinberg, and Diane Radin. Credit: Ken Nordhauser 

By Jennifer Rubin 

Rabbi Gail Swedroe will be honored with a celebratory weekend at Congregation Agudas Achim (CAA) marking her 10th anniversary of leadership. The musical-themed weekend, on February 7-9, 2025, will reflect Rabbi Swedroe’s love of theater and include a Broadway revue.  

Rabbi Swedroe, who serves as Associate Rabbi, began her tenure at CAA in August 2014. She grew up in Silicon Valley and received a degree in Religious Studies from UC-Santa Barbara. Following graduation, she was part of the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellowship through Hillel, working at the Hillel at Stanford University, before beginning her rabbinic studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she was ordained with a concentration in Pastoral Care, a reflection of her warm-hearted nature.  

Before moving to Austin, Swedroe was the Assistant Director and Campus Rabbi at the Hillel at the University of Florida. Her ability to work with populations beyond college students and young adults quickly expanded during her time at CAA. Her colleague, Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe, CAA’s Senior Rabbi, reflected that she “is insightful and has an easy-going way with people of all generations which contribute directly to the culture of (our) community.” Blumofe continued that from Swedroe’s first moments here, he knew she would quickly become an inseparable part of all that CAA does.   

Swedroe also felt that connection even before being offered the position. “From the beginning it was very clear to me that Rabbi Blumofe was looking for someone to partner with. The warmth that [my husband] David and I felt at our first Friday night service was a really special experience. In the sanctuary people were singing along wholeheartedly. It was a place where people were actively participating.”  

The enthusiasm Swedroe felt during her first visit continued on Shabbat morning when “the Tot Shabbat room was bursting at the seams.” Carol Rubin, who was the primary leader of Tot Shabbat, also “was clearly looking for a partner and brought me along on this lovely ride.”  

“It felt like the type of synagogue that I would want to be a member at, and if I were blessed with children down the road it would be the type of community I would want to raise them in,” Swedroe elaborated. Now she and her husband David Goodman are raising a daughter and son who actively participate in CAA’s youth offerings.  

Swedroe says she is particularly proud of the ways in which the young family programming has grown over the past decade. “It’s moved away from the side activity that I was leading at CAA, whether in our sacred spaces or elsewhere, to being an integrated part of who we are at Agudas and what we do. Because of the dedicated efforts of multiple volunteers, we now truly have wonderful ambassadors of our young family community who see part of their role as sharing with others in the larger Austin Jewish community, how much they have found CAA to be a part of their spiritual home.”  

Two of CAA’s offerings that Swedroe has transformed into integrated parts of the community as a whole are the NACHAT and Hineni services. NACHAT is an acronym for Northern Area Chavurah Austin Texas and refers to “contentment and a happy” feeling as a Hebrew word. It is a monthly Shabbat experience at the Brushy Creek Community Center that serves residents of Round Rock, Cedar Park and Georgetown, that includes a musical service and potluck dinner.  

CAA’s Director of Congressional Learning Emeritus Dr. Harvey Raben said, “Rabbi Swedroe has taken the reins of the CAA NACHAT initiative and built a sustainable community in Austin’s northern suburbs. It has brought new families to CAA in a convenient location. Her creative touches have made NACHAT a monthly welcoming experience up north.”  

Swedroe also leads the Hineni High Holiday services which feature an insightful, thoughtful, and reflective musical prayer ensemble. “Our high holiday ensemble has really delighted in watching Rabbi Swedroe grow over the past decade into a truly passionate rabbinic voice. I don’t think a lot of the membership gets to see how much thought and attention to detail goes into planning programming, particularly an alternative musical service like ours. So being part of this kind of effort gives us a greater appreciation of the extra effort that clergy puts in to make our experiences richer,” said David Ansel, a member of the ensemble.  

Swedroe has a passion for including music and theater into her work. “Just like in high school where theater allowed me to have connections with people from different groups and years in school, our Purim spiels and flash mobs at CAA over the years have allowed for multi-generational interactions with folks who might not otherwise have met, which is one of the really beautiful things about being part of the synagogue community,” Rabbi Swedroe reflected.   

She continued, “In rabbinical school, Purim was the primary outlet I had for expressing my theatrical side because my first real love of theater was musical theater, and the Purim spiels at JTS lent themselves to that. The idea of connecting sacred texts to theater is a way that Judaism may be made a bit more accessible, so I wanted to create that experience for others at CAA. Even with Purim’s intense theological themes, it lends itself to lightheartedness and to not taking itself too seriously. And it’s fun.”  

Blumofe agrees that she makes things more accessible. “I think her Torah is really accessible and inspiring, I think she puts people at ease, and honestly that I think we work very very well together as a rabbinic team, complimenting each other’s strengths and extending our reach,” he said. He went on to say, “I learn a lot from her and her love of musicals and she is ready for any unscripted adventure. Improv is something that is very important to me and I think that it’s become a part of her rabbinic way of life as well. Knowing that anything can happen at any time, it makes the services more interesting, more animated, and hopefully more joyous.”  

Outside of the walls of the synagogue, Rabbi Swedroe has had a significant impact on the Austin community at large through her role on the Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT)  board and executive board. Her long-time interest in being part of interfaith dialogue has led her to become an ambassador on behalf of the Jewish community. Rabbi Swedroe remarked, “I think it’s really important that the Jewish community not be insular, that we seek to build friendships and alliances with our neighbors, that we interact with the world around us. And iACT has a long-standing history in Austin of being a convener of those conversations.”  

“I do think Rabbi Swedroe is quite fearless and has a really beautiful way of knitting not only our Agudas Achim community together, but really has a way of bringing all voices together who seek to build holy and meaningful community,” said Blumofe. He said that Pirkei Avot – a favorite text of Swedroe’s – speaks of “learning from others, being cheerful when helping others, and considering new ideas. With her compassion and the ways that she offers herself into the community, I find that she makes these words of Torah come alive.”  

 In celebration of Swedroe’s 10th anniversary as the associate rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim, a weekend-long celebration is planned for Februay 7-9, 2025. The events will include special opportunities for participation throughout the weekend with a particular emphasis on multi-generational programming. An encore celebration will take place for the NACHAT community on February 14, 2025. For more details, visit 
theaustinsynagogue.org/swedroe10.