Her name is Angela Warnick Buchdahl, the oldest daughter of Sulja Warnick (KWA-Korean Women’s Association’s Senior Advisor & founding member) who is working hard for Korean language education in the Tacoma area.
Mrs. Buchdahl’s name is already well known in leading society.
She is the first Asian Jewish rabbi in the world. In 2013, the New York Times covered her because she was named as the Senior Rabbi of a large Reform congregation.
Mrs. Buchdahl is currently working as the senior rabbi at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, where Reform Judaism originated
In December 2014, she gave a speech at the White House Hanukkah celebration, where 600 Jewish people were invited and President Barack Obama attended.
Newsweek nominated her as one of the 5 most influential rabbis in America. She was also nominated as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America by Newsweek in 2012.
Mrs. Buchdahl was born to Sulja Warnick and Frederick Warnick, an American Reform Jew, in Seoul, South Korea in 1978. She began her religious life when her family moved to Tacoma at the age of five.
She was student president at Tacoma Stadium High school. She majored in religious studies at Yale University after graduating high school in 1990. She married her Jewish husband after finishing Yale University Law School.
She wanted to be a rabbi since when she was attending Stadium High school.
She went to HUC (Hebrew Union College) in New York after graduating Yale University and graduated in 2001 as the first Asian graduate.
She became a cantor in 1999, and two years later, in 2001, she became a rabbi. She was the first Korean and first East Asian rabbi in America.
Stadium High school nominated Mrs. Buchdahl as a member of the hall of fame based on her accomplishments as a rabbi considering her status as a female half-Korean American. Stadium High school will have a dedication ceremony on November 9th at 3pm.
KWA’s senior advisor, Sulja Warnick was a Buddhist in Korea. She is not a Buddhist any longer, but she didn’t convert to Judaism.
Sulja Warnick said “I just can’t convert to a specific religion just because of my child or husband.” She continued “I believe it’s against my conscience to believe in Judaism without any actual religious activity, so I just do mediation sometimes.”