Rabbi Jill Hackell, MD
Rabbi Jill Hackell has joined the CSI clergy following the merger with CSI of West Clarkstown Jewish Center, where she served as their Rabbi for more than 12 years. She comes with a toolbox of skills for meeting people where they are and a passion for Jewish adult education.
Rabbi Hackell has been a member of CSI since 1982, when she joined shortly after the birth of her daughter. Both of her children grew up at CSI, become b’nai mitzvah there, and celebrated their aufrufs with the CSI community. While they attended Hebrew school, Rabbi Hackell attended adult education classes and Sunday minyanim - and thus began her Jewish journey.
Rabbi Hackell received a BS in Biology from Tufts University, and an MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she also did her pediatric residency training. She practiced general pediatrics before going on to a more than 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, directing clinical research on new vaccines.
She enrolled in Rabbinical school at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), a seminary defined by its pluralistic approach to Judaism that trains rabbis and cantors to serve in all aspects of the Jewish world. She was ordained in 2013, simultaneously receiving a Master’s Degree in Judaic Studies from Gratz College. Since her ordination, she served West Clarkstown Jewish Center as their rabbi, until they merged with CSI in 2025.
She has combined these two paths through an interest in bioethics, teaching Jewish Bioethics on the graduate level at AJR and general Bioethics at Dominican University; and she also teaches this and other subjects of Jewish interest at the Jewish Federation of Rockland County and now at CSI. She was awarded the P’nei Torah Faculty Award from AJR for excellence in teaching in religion and science. She also serves on the AJR Board of Trustees.
She lives in Rockland County with her bashert, Shimmy Cohen, is the proud savta of her four grandchildren, and is delighted to be back home at CSI.