Heart of a Stranger
An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging
From the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, a stirring account of one woman’s journey from feeling like an outsider to becoming one of the most admired religious leaders in the world
Angela Buchdahl was born in Korea and grew up in Tacoma, Washington, the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. Profoundly spiritual from a young age, she felt a connection to God when only a child and felt the first stirrings to become a rabbi at age sixteen. Despite the naysayers and periods of self-doubt—would a mixed-race woman ever be seen as authentically Jewish and entitled to lead a congregation—she stayed the course, which took her first to Yale, then to rabbinical school,…