A seventh-generation rabbi, Debra Orenstein is a member of the first class to ordain women as rabbis at The Jewish Theological Seminary and worked her way through school as an actress. After her ordination, Orenstein lectured at the American Jewish University and at other universities and synagogues. She also served as spiritual leader of Congregation Makom Ohr Shalom in Tarzana, California, before becoming rabbi at Congregation B’nai Israel in Emerson, New Jersey. Orenstein is a supporter of Free the Slaves, with whom she launched the Passover Project.