Angela Warnick Buchdahl was invested as a cantor in 1999 and also ordained as a rabbi in 2001 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York where she was a Wexner Graduate fellow. She earned a BA in Religious Studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Cantor Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as cantor or rabbi in North America. Prior to her appointment as cantor at Central Synagogue, Cantor Buchdahl served as associate rabbi/cantor at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, N.Y.
Cantor Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading services and has served as faculty for the Wexner Heritage Foundation and for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Kallot programs. She has been actively involved in Just Congregations, the Reform Movement’s Congregation Based Community Organizing effort at Central and on a national level. Cantor Buchdahl has been featured in articles in Reform Judaism, Shema Journal of Jewish Ideas, the Newsweek Top 50 Rabbis List and the PBS documentary 18 Voices Sing Kol Nidrei. She serves on the Board of Auburn Theological Seminary and the Multiracial Jewish Network. Cantor Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.
