Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez
Core Semikha, Class of 2018

Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez is an engaging Jewish educator, community builder, and visionary leader. She works to ensure that our Jewish communal organizations are more intentional - more intentionally Jewish, more intentionally diverse, more intentionally equitable.
Rabba Melissa currently serves as the Director of Family Education and Engagement at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and in a number of communal volunteer roles. She is on the Executive Committee for the Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta, and was amongst the first cohort of women in their ACT: Agents of Change Training fellowship. Rabba Melissa is also the Clergy Advisory Chair for MACoM: Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah, on the National Council for Jewish Women’s (NCJW) Rabbi’s for Repro Advisory Board, and is the inaugural Board Chair for A Mitzvah to Eat.
Rabba Melissa received semikha (rabbinic ordination) from Maharat in 2018 and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois in 2006. She has also learned intensively at Nishmat and Pardes in Jerusalem and worked for JEWISHcolorado, JCC Manhattan, Hillel International, and Global Day of Jewish Learning. Rabba Melissa enjoys writing in her “free time” and has been published in a number of print and digital forums.
publications and media
Title | Type | Category | Topic | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
Power Hour of Torah - High Holiday 5782 Edition | Multimedia; Dvar Torah | Video Divrei Torah; Panels and Discussions; Holiday | Yamim Noraim | 5782/2021 |
Abortion is a Religious Right | In the News | Abortion | February 16, 2021 | |
Life, Death, or Both? | Dvar Torah | Bereishit | Chayei Sarah | 2017/5778 |
Save the World - Together | Dvar Torah | Bamidbar | Pinchas | 2017/5777 |
Memories and Journeys | Dvar Torah | Devarim | Devarim | 2019/5779 |
Arba Minim, Arba Devarim | Dvar Torah | Holiday | Sukkot / Simkhat Torah | 2017/5778 |
Love, Light and Latkes | Dvar Torah | Holiday | Chanukah | 2018/5779 |
Celebrating Unity: How the Four Mitzvot Bring Us Together | Dvar Torah | Holiday | Purim | 2016/5776 |
International Women's Talmud Day - Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez | Multimedia | Video Divrei Torah | 2020/5780 | |
From the Beit Midrash to the Boardroom - An Exploration of Jewish Leadership | Multimedia | Panels and Discussions | 2018/5779 | |
Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez - 2018 Yeshivat Maharat Semikha Ceremony | Multimedia | Graduations | Sixth Semikha Ceremony | June 18, 2018 |
Aseret Yemei Teshuva 5779/2018 - Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez '18 | Multimedia; Holiday | Video Divrei Torah; Holiday | Rosh Hashana; Yom Kippur | 2018/5779 |
Metzora and Mashiach | Dvar Torah | Vayikra | Tazria; Metzora | 2018/5778 |
A Chanukah Message from Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez | Dvar Torah | Holiday | Chanukah | December 9, 2020 |
Framing Our Communal Grief | In the News | May 7, 2020 |
mentions
Title | Publication | Published |
---|---|---|
Making the World a Better Place | Unorthobox | August 1, 2022 |
Abortion is a Religious Right | Atlanta Jewish Times | February 16, 2021 |