RABBI CORINNE HEATHER COPNICK, C.M., M.A., M.R.S.

What an incredible journey!  Born in Montreal, Canada, and living in Los Angeles near her children and grandchildren, Rabbi Corinne Heather Copnick entered AJR-CA’s rabbinic program at the age of 73, with a richly developed background. Her earlier career in the arts in Canada spanned national (CBC) radio, television, film, stage, and visual art.  In Montreal, as owner/director of Galerie La Magie de L’Art, she created more than 40 stellar exhibitions and a dozen cultural events. In 1991, in cooperation with the Central Museum of Zagreb and the Jewish Museum in Belgrade, she organized an outstanding international exhibition of Jewish Art Treasures from the former Yugoslavia.

In Toronto she directed many plays for both Medina Theatre and the Jewish Theatre Committee of Greater Toronto. For fifteen years, she ran a successful Writing and Editing Service, guiding many books to publication, writing a regular column for Toronto’s Jewish Tribune, and serving as Entertainment Editor of Jewish Life. Corinne’s own literary works include Altar Pieces, screened nationally many times on Canadian TV; Embrace, bilingual (English/French) love poems; and the humorous How To Live Alone Until You Like It…And Then You Are Ready for Somebody Else. Cryo Kid: Drawing a New Map, her most recent book, was awarded finalist status in the 2009 National Indie Awards of Excellence.

A recipient of various grants and scholarships, Corinne was honored to serve as resident writer at the Banff Center for the Arts. Funded by a government grant, she designed a groundbreaking, role-playing simulation on Canadian unity called Future Directions. An acclaimed play that she wrote for drug education purposes, Metamorphose, was featured at the Quebec Pavilion of Montreal’s Man and His World as well as many other venues. The Canadian Commemorative Medal (1992) recognized her substantial contribution to Canada. In 1998, the National Council of Jewish Women (Montreal Section) honored her, with other Past Presidents, as a Woman of Distinction. She has served on the Boards of various community organizations (in Canada, Temple Emmanuel Beth Shalom, The Quebec Drama Festival, and The Jewish Theatre Committee of Greater Toronto, and, in California, West Coast Jewish Theatre and the Canadian Women’s Club of L.A.)

With a Canada Medal (C.M., 1992), M.A. (McGill University, Developmental Drama, 1975), and B.A. (McGill, Honors English, 1956) to her credit , Corinne was overjoyed to receive an M.R.S. (AJR-CA, Master of Rabbinic Studies, 2015) to signify the completion of her rabbinic studies at the age of 79. In becoming an ordained rabbi and teacher, she is deeply appreciative of those who have guided her journey.

Rabbi Corinne is currently working on a new collection of inspirational stories. She has recently initiated an independent, pluralistic house of study, Beit Kulam, which celebrates inclusion (See our Facebook page!). As a rabbinic resource and consultant —  and a sought-after storyteller and speaker — she applies artistic modalities to education about Jewish living, helping rabbis put together the books and articles many have little time to write, and serving as Guest Rabbi in a variety of locales, including as Guest Staff Rabbi for several prestigious cruise lines. She additionally developing curriculum based on her thesis, “The Staying  Power of Hope in the Aggadic Narratives of the Talmud.”