Rabbi Julia Appel is passionate about building Jewish community that meets the challenges of the 21st century — in which Jewish identity is a choice, not an obligation. Rabbi Appel spearheads Clal’s Jewish community training programs in innovation and entrepreneurship. Since 2022, she has developed and led The Belonging Project, which enables Jewish communal institutions to measure and improve the culture of belonging among their community members. Thirty congregations and over 5000 congregational survey respondents have participated so far, including some of the largest congregations in North America.
Rabbi Appel has trained dozens of Jewish institutions to better serve their constituents through user-centered design with Clal’s Spark program. Since 2020, Rabbi Appel has been the lead faculty member and curricular designer for Clal’s graduate course for rabbinical and cantorial students, Leading Through Innovation, teaching the skills needed for Jewish clergy to lead in the 21st century. She honed these approaches while a congregational rabbi and then while leading a four-year user-centered design process at Hillel at the University of Toronto through Hillel International’s Organizational Design Lab, resulting in it being one of the top three Hillels in the world for engagement improvement in 2019.
Rabbi Appel has served on the executive committee of the Toronto Board of Rabbis since 2019 and, since 2024, on the advisory board of Springtide Research Institute, which focuses on spirituality, mental health, and Gen Z. Her writing has been featured in such publications as The Forward, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, e-Jewish Philanthropy, The Wisdom Daily, and the Canadian Jewish News. Originally from Boston, Rabbi Appel holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.A. in Jewish Studies and Rabbinic Ordination from Hebrew College and lives in Toronto, Ontario.