- Profession: Theologian
- Lived: July 2, 1943 - Present (Modern Era)
- Nationality: American
- Known for: Influential Jewish theologian, specializing in gender issues and Jewish law
- Fun Fact: Rachel Adler identified as an Orthodox Jew and a Reform Jew during different parts of her life.
- Fun Fact: Adler changed positions on some issues in her life, including publishing papers both defending and condemning the immersion of a menstruating women in a mikveh to achieve ritual purity.
Rachel Adler was one of the first theologians to use feminist ideas and concerns to study Jewish texts and the renewal of Jewish laws and ethics. This led her to create and host a women's Talmud class in her home. She taught the women there the text in its original Hebrew and Aramaic, making it the first rigorous Talmud study for lay women outside of Israel or New York. She also created the ritual brit ahuvim to replace the traditional erusin marriage ceremony which Adler felt did not uphold the idea of equality between the two sexes.
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