WESTPORT–Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, a prominent religious leader who marked two firsts in the Jewish community to lead one of the largest synagogues in North America, will speak at Temple Israel, 14 Coleytown Road, Westport at 7 p.m. Oct. 28.

All in-person guests are required to pre-register here.

The first Asian American rabbi in North America, she is also the first woman to serve as Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, according to the synagogue’s website. She has captured her own story in a new book, “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.”

Signed copies of her book will be available for purchase.

Buchdahl also is a longtime colleague and mentor of Temple Israel’s Senior Rabbi Michael S. Friedman and Senior Cantor Julia Cadrain.

Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Buchdahl was ordained a rabbi in 2001 in New York. She was chosen as senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in 2014.

“Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via livestream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries,” Central Synagogue’s website says.

She has been featured on dozens of news outlets, including the Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR and PBS.

Co-sponsors of the event at Temple Israel are: 

• The Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County
• TCS
• Congregation B’nai Israel
• Or Hadash (Fairfield)
• Beth El (Norwalk)
• Congregation Shir Shalom (Ridgefield).

Registration for in-person or virtual attendance is available here.