Bonnie Koppell

Rabbi Koppell has steadily held rabbinic positions since 1980.[3] She was ordained in 1981.[4] In addition, she also has served as President of the Board of Directors of the East Valley Child Crisis Center, and as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix.[3] She contributed the City of Mesa’s ethics code,[1] and has served on the Board of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services, as well as the Board of the Jewish Community Relations Council.[3]

Rabbi Koppell served as a chaplain (colonel) in the United States Army Reserve, and was the first female Rabbi to serve in the U.S. military.[1] CH Koppell was commissioned as a 2LT Chaplain Candidate in 1978; she joined the army reserves in 1978 while a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She served a year of active duty in support of Operation Noble Eagle.[1] She spent Passover 2006 in Iraq, Chanukkah 2005/2006 with Jewish service members in Kuwait and Afghanistan, and was deployed to Iraq for Passover 2006.[1] She returned to Afghanistan in 2008, and celebrated Passover in Kuwait in 2010.[1] She was formerly the Command Chaplain for the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support) based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was previously assigned as the Command Chaplain of the 63D Regional Support Command. She retired from military service in 2016.[1] In January 2013, she attended the prestigious Senior Leader Seminar sponsored by the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, and in July 2013 received a Master's degree from the school in Strategic studies.