Tagged female rabbis

The big book of women rabbis tells a grand story

Rabbi Denise Eger, center, reads the Torah during her installation as CCAR president, March 16, 2015. Eger contributed an essay, "Creating Opportunities for the “Other”: The Ordination of Women as a Turning Point for LGBT Jews," in a new book on women rabbis. (David A.M. Wilensky)
July 29, 2016 / Joanne Palmer, New Jersey Jewish Standard via JTA)

It’s a really big book. “The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate” is 776 pages, plus LVI pages of frontmatter (translated from Roman numerals and publisher’s jargon, that’s 56 pages of introductory material before page 1) and eight blank ones at the end. It’s a paperback,… Read more »

Why a small word change is a big deal for Reform women rabbis

Members of the 2016 rabbinical class of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion reading their class prayer at an ordination ceremony at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 2016. (HUC-JIR via Facebook)
May 31, 2016 / Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Since 1972, when the Reform movement ordained its first female rabbi, more than 700 others have joined her ranks in that denomination alone. But a surprise awaited them, though few seemed to notice: The language on their ordination certificates was markedly different than that of their… Read more »

Rabbinic sisterhood: 3 rabbis now in Chernow family
June 13, 2012 / Marilyn Hawkes, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix
Rabbinic sisterhood: Three rabbis now in Chernow family (Jewish News of Greater Phoenix)

(Jewish News of Greater Phoenix) — When Ilana Mills was 16 years old she had an epiphany: “I want to be a rabbi.” At first, she worried the only reason she wanted to follow that career path was because her two older sisters had talked about becoming rabbis. “I… Read more »

Pulpit pioneer: Sally Priesand ordained as first female rabbi in U.S. 40 years ago
June 4, 2012 / Sue Hoffman, Cleveland Jewish News
Rabbi Sally Priesand (Courtesy Sally Priesand)

(Cleveland Jewish News) — When Sally Priesand became the first woman to be ordained a rabbi in the United States on June 3, 1972, she had no intention of being a pioneer. “I didn’t think about breaking any barriers or championing women’s rights,” Priesand told the Cleveland Jewish News… Read more »

Op-ed: Elevate more female rabbis into leadership roles
May 16, 2011

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — On a recent trip to Berlin with a dozen other Conservative rabbis, we made certain to stop at the apartment building that Regina Jonas once called home. I had never heard of Jonas, but to the four female rabbis in our group she was… Read more »

Barriers broken, female rabbis look to broader influence
December 21, 2010 / Penny Schwartz, JTA
At a program in suburban Boston titled "Raising up the light," 50 female rabbis in the audience were called up to the bimah in tribute, Dec. 6, 2010. (Larry Sandberg)

NEWTON, Mass. (JTA) — Lynne Kern knew at 13 that she wanted to be a rabbi, even though in 1970 there were no female rabbis to act as role models. So Kern became a writer, eventually winning a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. But she never forgot her passion, and… Read more »