Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Ph.D.

Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Ph.D. (she/her) is an award-winning educator with almost four decades of experience as a professor and administrator. Currently she is Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of Inter-Religious Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology. She is also Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver, Professor Emerita of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte, and a member of the Interfaith Amigos. Rabbi Laura has received numerous awards for her teaching of philosophy and religion, including the prestigious Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year Award (2001) and the American Academy of Religion Katie Geneva Cannon Award for Excellence in Teaching (2022). She has published academic articles, co-edited anthologies, and spiritual books, including Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Cascade, 2001), winner of a Readers’ Favorite award. Rabbi Laura holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and education (Claremont Graduate University, 1991), along with master’s degrees in both fields. She received rabbinic ordination from ALEPH (2005), a graduate diploma in spiritual direction from VST (2010), and a 500-hour/2-year certificate in Ayurvedic yoga from the New Life Center (1984). She has served on the ALEPH Vaad, ALEPH board, and OHALAH program committee. Rabbi Laura lives with her husband Charles in Vancouver Canada on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory. Together they enjoy hiking, befriending urban wildlife, caring for companion animals, co-leading musical events and prayer services, participating in Jewish and interfaith communal life, and spending time with their two grown children.