Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council member, began studying Torah in Orthodox Hebrew school at age five and started studying Talmud and teaching Torah at age 12. Rebecca has taught Torah at multiple synagogues, churches, community groups, and beyond. Rebecca delights in finding Torah in unexpected places, recognizing we were all at Sinai and are still receiving Torah, finding our Torah tradition in places from the Liberty Bell to area murals and incorporating it into our contemporary community work. She is a proudly out Jew who was elected to the Board of AC Transit in 2002, served as a state Assembly legislative aide, and was elected to the Oakland City Council in 2008, the youngest and first out GBTQ+ member.  Kaplan holds a Bachelor's degree from MIT and a law degree from Stanford, where she also studied Constitutional law and Talmud.