The First Asian American Rabbi on Finding Faith, Identity, and Radical Compassion

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl has never fit neatly into anyone’s box. As the first Asian American to be ordained as both a rabbi and a cantor (and the first woman to lead New York City’s historic Central Synagogue in its 185-year history) Buchdahl spent her career expanding the idea of who gets to belong in Jewish life. Her new memoir, Heart of a Stranger, tells that story in full.

Born in Seoul in 1972 to an American Jewish father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Buchdahl grew up in Tacoma, Washington, where she often felt like what she calls an “unlikely rabbi.” That sense of being on the outside, she says, ended up shaping her life’s work.

"I spent so much of my life as a Korean Jew in the Jewish community feeling like I was outside in some way of every community I was a part of,” she told CBS News. “The empathy that I cultivated while I felt like I was on the outside ... it ended up being the thing that made me not presume that you already feel like you belong, so I'm going to have to go out of my way to make sure that you do.”

That perspective, what she calls “radical compassion”, is at the heart of her ministry. Even the title of her book comes from the Torah: “Do not oppress the stranger. You know the heart of a stranger.” It’s a verse that’s become her guiding principle, a constant reminder that compassion begins with remembering what it feels like to be on the outside looking in.

Though she was raised in the Reform Jewish movement, which accepted her Asian descent, Buchdahl eventually chose to undergo what she calls a “reaffirmation ceremony”, a conversion that symbolized her personal claim of Jewish identity. “It wasn’t about proving anything to anyone,” she’s said. “It was about claiming my own belonging.”

Through all these peaks and valleys, Buchdahl’s voice has remained unwavering. Her sermons draw thousands of worshippers online and blend wisdom and warmth with a consistent call for inclusion. Inspired by her immigrant mother’s “grit and resilience,” she’s built a culture at Central Synagogue that truly embodies her message: welcome the stranger.

Photo by Angela Buchdahi/Facebook