Julia Watts Belser

Rabbi Julia Watts Belser received her rabbinic ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and her PhD in Religious Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Belser is currently Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University, and serves as retreat director for Nehirim, a spiritual initiative for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews.

A wheelchair rider herself, Dr. Belser is the co-author of A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Midstream: A Journal of Jewish Thought; The Journal of Women and Religion, Kalliope: A Journal of Women’s Art and Literature; and Fireweed: A Feminist Quarterly.