RJ Blog

Confirmation and b’nai mitzvah have been front and center on this blog for the past few weeks, what with Rabbi Carole Balin’s post on the 90th anniversary of the first bat mitzvah, Barry Shainker’s appreciation of the role of confirmation in Reform Judaism, and then the thoughtful comments on Shainker’s post by rabbis Fred Guttman, Andy Koren, and Joel Abraham. As I commented on Rabbi Balin’s post, the early Reformers deserve high marks for the institution of confirmation as a replacement for bar mitzvah, even though over the long haul their innovation did not “take.” Mr. Shainker pointed out confirmation [...]

by Rabbi Stephanie Kolin There’s a story told about East End Temple in New York City, the congregation in which I grew up. For 16 years, Rabbi Deborah Hirsch was my rabbi and rabbi to many families like mine. One day, a young boy I used to babysit, Matt, was walking with his mom; they were also members of East End Temple. They stopped for a moment on an NYC sidewalk to speak to a certain man. When the man walked away, she said to her son: “Matt, do you know who that was? That was the rabbi from Town [...]

On Tuesday, May 8th, 2012, the state of North Carolina enshrined bigotry, ignorance, and hatred into their constitution. Many adults who hold the power to vote abused this opportunity by deciding to hurt others to protect their own feelings of morality.

by Rabbi Carole B. Balin, Ph.D. This year marks a double simcha for American Jews. It is the 40th anniversary of the ordination of the first woman rabbi and the 90th anniversary of the first girl to become a bat mitzvah during a worship service. I wonder whether Judith Kaplan – who pioneered the bat mitzvah at her father Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s synagogue in 1922, two years after women got the vote – could have imagined that the President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion would ordain Sally Priesand 50 years later? Could the young Judith have dreamed that, [...]

by Rabbi Laura Geller Let me remind you what the Jewish world was like in 1976, the year I was ordained as the third woman rabbi in the Reform Movement, just four years after the ordination of Sally Priesand. I had been the only woman in my class; there were as yet no women professors teaching rabbinics. It was one year after the Reform Movement had published its new prayer book, Gates of Prayer. In the introduction to the prayer book was a radical statement: “we have been…keenly aware of the changing status of women in our society. Our commitment [...]

by Rabbi Denise L. Eger On this 40th anniversary of Rabbi Sally Priesand’s ordination, I am reflecting on the impact of that moment on our own Reform Judaism, the larger Jewish world and the implications on my own life. Rabbi Priesand is not just the first woman rabbi of contemporary times, but she is a rabbi’s rabbi. She has guided both the men and women of our Movement with her grace, wisdom, and inspiration. She has mentored both rabbis and lay leaders with her deep thoughtfulness, sense of humor and her deep humility. She has taught all of us what [...]

Next month may mark the 40th anniversary of women in the American rabbinate, but another historic event is taking place this weekend: On Sunday, six graduates of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion will make history when they become the first class of cantorial students to be ordained rather than invested. JTA covers it in a story this week titled “What’s in a word? For ‘ordained’ rather than ‘invested’ cantors, a lot.”

Each month, the Reform Movement spotlights a theme across our online presence, especially here on this blog. This month’s theme is “40 Years of Women on the Bimah,” leading up the 40th anniversary of Rabbi Sally Priesand’s historic ordination as the first female rabbi in the United States. Through May, we’ll be highlighting voices of rabbis, cantors, educators, community leaders, and congregants talking about what the role of women in Reform Judaism means to them. You’ll recognize these pieces because each will include the badge to the right, an image of Rabbi Priesand carrying the Torah. We hope you’ll join [...]

by Rabbi Michelle Pearlman Nate Manewith is in Pre-K. When asked to do a report about Women’s History Month, he created this adorable poster to tell his class about the pioneering achievements of Rabbi Sally Priesand. Rabbi Priesand is our rabbi emerita. We at Monmouth Reform Temple are fortunate to have her with us at services each and every Shabbat.  She reads Torah, preaches, and teaches in our congregation when she is able. We do not think of her as the first woman rabbi, but rather as our rabbi. But to the world, even to this little boy in Pre-K, [...]

by Jesse Paikin “Who’s that guy?” I asked my mom. “He’s the rabbi,” she answered. I stared up at my mom, with a blank gaze on my face. When I was eight years old, my family joined a synagogue for the first time. Even before then, we always had a fairly strong sense of Jewish identify in our home – celebrating Shabbat every week at my grandparents’ house and observing Rosh Hashanah, Pesach and Chanukah together. From an early age, I was taught how to express the guttural ‘ch’ sound that permeates our people’s speech, and I have fond memories [...]