RJ Blog

Still not clear on the details of the ongoing dispute regarding women’s prayer at the Western Wall in Israel? Been following along so closely that you want to know even more about it? Last week, Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson, director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, was interviewed by Timothy Michael Law, founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of The Marginalia Review of Books. The Women’s Rabbinic Network is the international support and advocacy organization for women in the Reform rabbinate. Just before Rabbi Ellenson’s scheduled appearance with Marginalia, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that recent detention of members of Women of the Wall members [...]

By Rabbi Jon Adland I remember this as if it were yesterday. The year was 1966 and the season was spring.  My father secretly arranged to pick up his children, the four of us, at three different schools, and take us to Washington Hebrew Congregation’s closing Sisterhood luncheon. Though I wasn’t totally in the loop, what I understood was that my mother—Marilyn Friend Adland—was going to be installed as president of WHC’s Sisterhood. Though I didn’t know it then, but I do now, WHC’s Sisterhood was one of the first in our Reform Jewish movement and my mom was going to [...]

For too much of Jewish history Jewish women did not count. Consider the opening of the Book of Exodus: “Eleh sh’mot b’nai Yisrael – These are the names of the children of Israel.” (Exodus 1:1) The text then goes on to name only the male children of Israel: Reuben, Simeon and Judah… but there is no mention of the female children of Israel. There definitely were many female children of Israel who were there but the opening of Exodus doesn’t see fit to mention them. The Biblical text seems to be telling us that: “girls don’t matter. Pharaoh also believes that [...]

by Rabbi Ariana Silverman This past January I had the privilege of serving as the co-chair, along with Arnie Gluck, of the CCAR’s trip to Israel.  One of the foci of the trip was social justice in Israel, and as the trip approached, I grew increasingly concerned that I was about to spend a week hearing about everything that is going wrong in a land I love.  I am delighted that the feeling with which I returned was hope.  And last week, the CCAR Convention’s panel on Israel reaffirmed that hope.   While Israel’s challenges are profound, many of the people in Israel who [...]

by Annette Powers, Dana Stein and Jane Herman Annette:  Despite the drenching rain in New York City, it was standing room only at Town and Village Synagogue this morning, where hundreds gathered to daven Rosh Chodesh Nisan in solidarity with Women of the Wall’s mission for the rights of all people to pray freely at the Kotel. The crowd was a mix of men, women and children across the spectrum of Jewish denominations. There were students from day schools and youth groups, Jewish professionals and lay leaders, rabbis and cantors. Some women wore tallitot; some didn’t. Some women wore tefillin; [...]

By Rabbi Jan Katzew At the 100th anniversary celebration held in Cincinnati, OH, WRJ leaders were hosted for dinner at the American Jewish Archives. As we each were asked to introduce ourselves, I said that I felt it appropriate to bring another person into the room, someone not physically present, but whose presence helped to make the centenary celebration possible – Jane Evans. Everyone agreed. Jane was there. Jane Evans was my friend, and therefore, what follows is more memory than history, more of a subjective portrait than a verbal photograph. Jane was a diminutive giant. She was living proof [...]

by Katie M. Roeper “My plate is full.” We’ve all said it, but then somehow we find ourselves raising our hand again with an idea that is too good to ignore. That was the case when I offered up the idea to add a program called WRJ Unsung Heroines to the already robust list of WRJ Centennial-related activities planned for this year. Sharing an idea doesn’t always mean you have to be the one to develop it. However, the one who envisions a program is often the one most eager to breathe life into it. I will admit that while [...]

Growing up in the 21st century, it is hard for me to believe that the first woman rabbi was ordained only 40 short years ago. Three out of four rabbis at my temple are women, one of whom was ordained within the first year that women were allowed to do so.

This essay is the winner of Women of Reform Judaism’s Centennial Essay Competition. Women of Reform Judaism established this essay contest in honor of their Centennial celebration. Teens were asked to write about the influence of women’s leadership in Reform congregations.

During a Shabbat weekend at the end of January, something very special happened – the start of our Centennial, a celebration of 100 years of Reform Jewish women’s accomplishments. Nearly 250 North American women traveled from cities and suburbs; small congregations and super-sized ones; North, West, South, and East to Cincinnati, OH, birthplace of WRJ in 1913. The delegates, hailing from 120 women’s groups, were there to attend the WRJ Fried Leadership Conference that launched this Centennial year of celebration.

Like many in the “broader Maryland” area, I watched and celebrated the Ravens’ Super Bowl victory this past weekend. I ate my requisite snacks, groaned at some commercials, and kvelled at Beyonce’s “throw-back” performance. For many, though, the Super Bowl is not the happy family occasion we might imagine – and I’m not just talking about disgruntled 49ers fans. For many years now, there has been a lot of discussion over the Super Bowl and domestic violence, and whether or not – as has been suggested by some journalists – there are higher rates of abuse amidst all of the [...]

by Pamela S. Ovshinsky This past October, 15 women leaders from six small, lay-led congregations (four Reform) established in rural areas in the Lower Northern and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan sought to change a dynamic of isolation. With the help of a grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Detroit, these women leaders met in St. Ignace, MI for an overnight retreat to receive training and facilitation about forming a sustainable regional consortium that would nurture and support leadership development in small rural congregations by creating a network for women.

Editor’s Note: This piece is excerpted from Rabbi Abrahmson’s keynote address at the 2013 WRJ Fried Leadership Conference. by Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson It has been a remarkable week for women. On Monday, the women’s restrooms in the United States Capitol happily boasted a line, thanks to the record-smashing 94 female House members needing to use it. In like fashion, 26 women will join Israel’s new parliament, a record-setting increase from 21 in the 18th Knesset. Among the new members, Pnina Tamano-Shata, Israel’s first female Ethiopian elected to Knesset and also Ruth Calderon, who established Alma, an egalitarian, liberal yeshiva [...]

Add your name to a petition urging the Israeli government to ensure that oversight of the Kotel includes a range of Jewish views and voices and protects gender equality. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, in the words and Yiddish accent of Issac Bashevis Singer, is “like any other Veilin Vall (wailing wall).” It is the only distinct and concrete holy place for the Jewish people. The site of the Western Wall is run by an ultra-Orthodox group of bureaucrats and rabbis who are dictating the life choices of all who enter. Pope Benedict XVI was lucky in 2009, to be allowed [...]