Rabbi Buchdahl chatted last week with Michel Martin of NPR’s Tell Me More for their Faith Matters segment.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now it’s time for Faith Matters. That’s the part of the program where we talk about matters of faith, religion and spirituality. Today we want to focus on a new faith leader who is changing the face of her religion. She is Angela Warnick Buchdahl. She has been named senior rabbi of the Central Synagogue, which is in Midtown Manhattan in New York. When she formally assumes her post on July 1, she will take the helm of one of the most prominent Reform synagogues in the country.

Now as a woman leading a major U.S. synagogue, Rabbi Buchdahl stands out, but she also stands out in other ways. According to the leading Jewish publication, The Forward, she was the first woman to be ordained as both a cantor and a rabbi, and she is believed to be the first Asian-American to obtain either post. And she is with us now. Welcome, Rabbi. Thank you so much for joining us.

RABBI ANGELA WARNICK BUCHDAHL: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.

MARTIN: And congratulations. And I do want to clarify for those who are listening that we are speaking with Rabbi Buchdahl in advance of the Sabbath. So that being said, the short version of your story - your father is a Jewish-American, your mother grew up in Japan, but ended up in Korea, which is where your parents met. And you were raised in Tacoma, Washington. Am I right so far?

BUCHDAHL: Yes, but I was born in South Korea as well.

MARTIN: And you were raised Jewish?

BUCHDAHL: My whole life.

MARTIN: What made you want to be a rabbi?

BUCHDAHL: I loved being a part of the Jewish people, and I just - I was a kid that just was always interested in questions about God. I guess that was a piece of it. And then I had wonderful role models along the way.

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