Rabbi Jill Zimmerman remembers the exact moment she felt a strong connection to her Jewish soul. 

“There was a program in the Bay Area for unaffiliated Jewish families,” she said. “The first thing that happened was someone came out with a guitar and sang ‘Hinei Mah Tov.’ I started to cry. It was really surprising to me. There was a heart connection there.”

Growing up, Zimmerman was raised in a culturally Jewish home in Skokie, Illinois. While her family celebrated the High Holy Days and Passover, she never went to Hebrew school or had a bat mitzvah. 

But as she got older, she felt a longing to tap into her spirituality; it led her to studying Buddhism and yoga and attending interdenominational get-togethers. Still, nothing quite clicked. 

“I was always a seeker,” she said. “I looked everywhere other than Judaism and I needed a teacher to say, ‘Hey, look here,’ which blew me away.”

That teacher was Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, whom Zimmerman met on a weekend retreat in Seattle, where she used to live. Kushner is the Emanu-El Scholar at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and teaches the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. 

“When I began studying a little bit of Torah with him, I realized I had been looking for this my whole life,” she said. “I didn’t know it was in my own backyard.”

From there, Zimmerman became more engaged, raising her two sons with her husband Ely in the Jewish community, acting as a lay leader at her synagogue and getting bat mitzvahed as an adult. She had been consulting for nonprofits in the Seattle area professionally, but decided at the age of 47 that she wanted to be a rabbi. For a year, she studied at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem before moving to Los Angeles to finish her studies and become ordained.

“Being a rabbi gives me access to this deep well of wisdom that is constantly flowing,” she said. “I suppose I just could have been a ‘Jew in the pew’ so to speak, but becoming a rabbi and having colleagues with so much vast experience and background allows me to dip in in a way I wasn’t able to before.”

When Zimmerman officially became a rabbi, she said she felt the urge to teach Judaism to her fellow Jews. “That was my primary reason for going to rabbinic school. I loved what I was learning so much, and I wanted to share it with other people.” 

After serving as a congregational rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills – where she worked on building the Caring Community and chavurot circles – she attended the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Clergy Leadership program in spiritual practice and mindful leadership program and received a certificate from the Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teaching Training program. 

Nowadays, Zimmerman, who recently moved back to Northern California, is the executive director of the Northern California Board of Rabbis. Long before the pandemic, she created a virtual community of congregants in Los Angeles and around the world and stays connected to them that way. 

“I named our community Hineni, as it is a term about becoming fully present,” she said. “I’m here, I’m ready, I’m open.”

Being present is the purpose of meditation, which Zimmerman teaches through a Jewish lens by incorporating texts for inspiration and guidance. 

“There are so many people I encounter who have been looking for meditation practices, and when we come into contact, they say they didn’t know there was a Jewish pathway into it.” 

When it comes to her own spirituality, Zimmerman resonates with the idea that God is everywhere, as demonstrated when Jacob encounters God and tells Him “hineni.”

“I love the idea that what Jacob thought was an ordinary place was actually a stairway to heaven and a connection to the divine,” she said. “I remind myself that in every ordinary place, there is a possibility of ascent, connection and divinity. That’s so inspiring to me.”

Fast Takes With Jill Zimmerman 

Jewish Journal: What was the best thing about growing up in Skokie?

Jill Zimmerman: There was such great Jewish food. You can go to Kaufman’s and get amazing deli food. 

JJ: What do you love about Northern California?

JZ: It’s gorgeous. We’re in an area where in five minutes, you can be in the Redwoods. It’s also just so exciting to meet all these new Northern California colleagues. The whole Bay Area has a really rich Jewish environment. 

JJ: What are you reading right now?

JZ: I’m reading this fabulous book called “Tales of the Holy Mysticat” by Rachel Adler. 

JJ: You’re a master gardener. What is your favorite plant or flower? 

JZ: Perennials. They are plants that keep regenerating and growing back. In Seattle you would plant them, and the bulbs would die back in the winter and in the spring they would regrow. It was always a miracle to me that all of this was going on and I couldn’t see it. It became a huge metaphor.