- Clergy
Rabbi Susan Nanus is the Director of Adult Programs and one of seven rabbis at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. In that capacity, she teaches, preaches, and oversees most of the adult cultural and educational programs at the Temple.
While studying for her smicha at the Academy of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, Rabbi Nanus worked as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Ahavat Torah in Westwood and the Santa Monica Synagogue. During that time, she was also the Coordinator of Senior Programs at the Westside Jewish Community Center.
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Rabbi Nanus did not decide to become a rabbi until her mid-50s. Before that, she was a playwright and film and television writer in New York and Los Angeles. Her play, “The Survivor,” about the Warsaw Ghetto, was produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, as well as Los Angeles. As a television movie writer, she had 15 movies on air and won numerous awards.
Rabbi Nanus is also the mother of a daughter, Lili. In her scant spare time, Rabbi Nanus loves to attend theater, read mystery novels, and do research on her favorite subject, Queen Elizabeth I.