Amy Perlin is the first female rabbi in America to start her own congregation, Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, which she was the founding rabbi of in 1986. In 1978 she graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Near Eastern Studies, with summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. In 1980 she received a M.A.H.L. (Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature), and in 1982 she was ordained by the Reform seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2007.