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A house divided: New book explores roots of the rifts between Israels many tribes The Times of Israel
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AI allows students to interact with Holocaust survivor, bringing the past to life Fox11online.com
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AI allows students to interact with Holocaust survivor, bringing the past to life - Fox11online.com
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Occupied City Review: Steve McQueen Breaks With Doc Convention in a Provocative Look at Amsterdam During World War II Hollywood Reporter
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Palestine: The Nakba or The Catastrophe that Palestinians have mourned for 75 years is a morality tale of... Moneycontrol
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WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden marked Jewish American Heritage Month on Tuesday by highlighting his administrations efforts to combat rising antisemitism, at a White House reception that featured performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of Parade.
Biden told the crowd it was important to him personally to guard against the rise of antisemitic bile in the world, and in particular the U.S.
Jewish Americans are shattered by a long and painful history of the oldest, the most sinister forces hate and anti-semitism, he said, talking about how he learned of the horrors of the Holocaust from his father and how it has motivated him to speak out against hate.
He also reiterated how his decision to run for the White House in 2020 was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The president, who just weeks ago announced he would run for reelection, spoke frequently during the 2020 campaign about the Unite the Right rally led by white nationalists bearing torches. Clashes between that group and a large gathering of counterprotesters led to the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd.
Then-President Donald Trump said of the incident that you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
Thats when I knew we had to stay engaged in the work of our time, Biden said. Hate never goes away. It just hides under the rocks until someone breathes oxygen on the rocks and it comes roaring back out.
Biden highlighted his appointment of Americas first ambassador-level special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, increased federal funding to help secure synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools, and convening a White House summit on combating hate-fueled violence.
The president was briefly delayed to the celebration because of earlier negotiations on the debt ceiling, so Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony Award nominees for their performance in Parade, performed first. The musical centers on the trial and imprisonment and lynching in the early 20th century of Jewish American factory manager Leo Frank. Composer Jason Robert Brown accompanied Diamond and Platt.
The trio did two from their show, and a third number from Into the Woods, before dashing back to New York for evening curtain. First lady Jill Biden chatted with the crowd until Biden arrived. Apparently, Joe made it, she joked as she took her seat.
Biden late last year established an inter-agency group to better coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States. He said his administration would soon be releasing its national strategy to counter antisemitism.
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has made countering antisemitism a hallmark issue as the first Jewish (and male) vice presidential spouse. He said that around the nation, Jewish Americans were achieving at the highest levels of success
How proud our ancestors would be to see us all here today, after many fled persecution to live their dreams in the United States of America.
But there was much to do to combat rising anti-semitism in the world. My wife, the vice president, encouraged me to lean into this fight, he said.
The White House recruited James Beard-winning chef Michael Solomonov, who specializes in Israeli cuisine, to design the menu for Tuesdays celebration.
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Biden speaks out against antisemitic bile during Jewish American ...
Posted By admin on May 17, 2023
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden marked Jewish American Heritage Month on Tuesday by highlighting his administration's efforts to combat rising antisemitism, at a White House reception that featured performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of Parade.
Biden told the crowd it was important to him personally to guard against the rise of antisemitic bile in the world, and in particular the U.S.
Jewish Americans are shattered by a long and painful history of the oldest, the most sinister forces hate and anti-semitism, he said, talking about how he learned of the horrors of the Holocaust from his father and how it has motivated him to speak out against hate.
He also reiterated how his decision to run for the White House in 2020 was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The president, who just weeks ago announced he would run for reelection, spoke frequently during the 2020 campaign about the Unite the Right rally led by white nationalists bearing torches. Clashes between that group and a large gathering of counterprotesters led to the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd.
Then-President Donald Trump said of the incident that you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
Thats when I knew we had to stay engaged in the work of our time, Biden said. Hate never goes away. It just hides under the rocks until someone breathes oxygen on the rocks and it comes roaring back out.
Biden highlighted his appointment of Americas first ambassador-level special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, increased federal funding to help secure synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools, and convening a White House summit on combating hate-fueled violence.
The president was briefly delayed to the celebration because of earlier negotiations on the debt ceiling, so Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony Award nominees for their performance in Parade," performed first. The musical centers on the trial and imprisonment and lynching in the early 20th century of Jewish American factory manager Leo Frank. Composer Jason Robert Brown accompanied Diamond and Platt.
The trio did two from their show, and a third number from Into the Woods, before dashing back to New York for evening curtain. First lady Jill Biden chatted with the crowd until Biden arrived. Apparently, Joe made it, she joked as she took her seat.
Biden late last year established an inter-agency group to better coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States. He said his administration would soon be releasing its national strategy to counter antisemitism.
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has made countering antisemitism a hallmark issue as the first Jewish (and male) vice presidential spouse. He said that around the nation, Jewish Americans were achieving at the highest levels of success
How proud our ancestors would be to see us all here today, after many fled persecution to live their dreams in the United States of America.
But there was much to do to combat rising anti-semitism in the world. My wife, the vice president, encouraged me to lean into this fight, he said.
The White House recruited James Beard-winning chef Michael Solomonov, who specializes in Israeli cuisine, to design the menu for Tuesday's celebration.
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Biden to mark Jewish American Heritage Month with Broadway stars, speak ...
Posted By admin on May 17, 2023
Alpert, Rebecca, Sue Levi Elwell, and Shirley Idelson, eds. Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Central Conference of American Rabbis. Yearbook, Vol. 32. New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1922.
Cardin, Nina Beth. Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss. Nashville, TN: Jewish Lights, 1999.
Clar, Reva, and William M. Kramer. The Girl Rabbi of the Golden West: The Adventurous Life of Ray Frank in Nevada, California and the Northwest. Western States Jewish History 18 (1986): 99111, 23236, 336351.
Fishman, Sylvia Barack. A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 1995.
Frank, Ray. Women in the Synagogue. In Papers of the Jewish Womens Congress. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1894.
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Nadell, Pamela S. Top Down or Bottom Up: Two Movements for Womens Rabbinic Ordination. In An Inventory of Promises: Essays in Honor of Moses Rischin, edited by Jeffrey Gurock and Marc Lee Raphael. New York: Carlson Publishing, 1995.
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Nadell, Pamela S. Rabbi, Rabba, Maharat, Rabbanit: For Orthodox Jewish Women, What's In a Title? Sightings, January 28, 2016); https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/rabbi-rabba-maharat-rabbanit-orthodox-jewish-women-whats-title.
Nadell, Pamela S. Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Womens Ordination 18891985. Boston: Beacon, 2000.
Portnoy, Mindy Avra. Ima on the Bimah: My Mommy Is a Rabbi. Steffi Karen Rubin, illustrator. Minneapolis: Kar-Ben Publishing, 1986.
Schorr, Rebecca Einstein, and Alysa Mendelson Graf, eds. The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate. New York: CCAR Press, 2016.
Simon, Rita J., and Pamela S. Nadell. In the Same Voice or Is It Different? Gender and the Clergy. Sociology of Religion 56, 1 (1995): 6370.
Simon, Rita J. and Pamela S. Nadell. Lay Leaders Views About Female Rabbis and Ministers. Shofar 13, 4 (Summer 1995): 5258.
Simon, Rita J. and Pamela S. Nadell. Teachers, Preachers, and Feminists in America: Women Rabbis. Shofar 10, 1 (Fall 1991): 210.
Simon, Rita J., Angela Scanlan, and Pamela S. Nadell. Rabbis and Ministers: Women of the Book and the Cloth. In Gender and Religion, edited by William Swatos, Jr. Livingston, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1994; also in Rita Simon, Rabbis, Lawyers, Immigrants, Thieves: Exploring Womens Roles. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993.
Ner-David, Haviva. Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey toward Traditional Rabbinic Ordination. Needham, MA: JFL Books, 2000.
Szold, Henrietta. Letter to Judge Mayer Sulzberger, February 14, 1903. Henrietta Zold [sic] Papers, Jewish Historical Society of Maryland.
Wertheimer, Jack. A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 1993.
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A Rabbi, in Judaism, is a religious teacher and, in modern times, the leader of a synagogue. The term was first applied in Jewish sources to the early Talmudic sages of the late first and second centuries C.E.
With the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the Jewish teachers of the Law of Moses known as the Pharisees replaced the temple priests as the primary religious authorities of Judaism. Following their tradition, as codified in the Talmud, local synagogue leaders gradually assumed the role which would come to be known in later times as the rabbinical office.
Qualifications for rabbinical ordination differ among the various Jewish traditions. Some Hasidic groups still reserve the term Rabbi only for the great, acknowledged sages, while most other types of Judaism have adopted the term for any ordained teacher of Jewish law. In modern times, the role of rabbis has often come to resemble that of Protestant pastors: acting as sermon-givers, organizers, counselors, and community spokesmen, as well as the traditional role of teachers and interpreters of religious law. Women are now ordained in Reform, Reconstructionist, and most Conservative communities, but not in Orthodox or Hasidic ones.
The word "Rabbi" is derived from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished. Sephardic and Yemenite Jews pronounce it, ribb, while the modern Israeli pronunciation rabb is derived from eighteenth century Ashkenazic (northern European) tradition. Other varieties of pronunciation are rv, rubb, and, in Yiddish, rebb.
The governments of the kingdoms of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah were based on a system of kings, prophets, and the priests, and also a council of legal advisers known as the Sanhedrin. Although the word sanhedrin comes from the period of Greek rule over the land of Israel, members of this council were supposed to represent an uninterrupted line from the 70 elders appointed by Moses to assist him in settling various legal cases (Exodus 18: 24-26). They were usually referred to as judges (dayanim), not rabbis, but it is from this institution that the rabbinic office evolved.
In the Second Temple period, from the end of the Babylonian Exile until 70 C.E., the Sanhedrin had the authority to interpret religious law and sometimes civil law as well, depending on the administration under which it operated. During the Roman period, local sanhedrins sometimes functioned as town councils, in addition to the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. The parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees vied for dominance in the Sanhedrin, with the Pharisees emphasizing popular piety in addition to Temple attendance, while teaching a concept of an Oral Torah as well as a written Law of Moses. The Pharisees would ultimately predominate, and it is from their tradition that the rabbis would eventually emerge.
Christian sources indicate that Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 9:5, etc.) and other Jewish teachers were called "Rabbi" by their followers.
They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.' But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. (Matthew 23:6-10)
Even if the title of Rabbi had come into use only by the time the Gospels were written in the late first century C.E., this would indicate that the term was already a title of honor in normative Jewish communities by the late first century C.E.. If the Christian recollection of Jesus himself being called "Rabbi" is accurate, then the title would have been in use by the first part of the first century C.E., and perhaps earlier.
With the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish priesthood became an obsolete office. The focus of scholarly and spiritual leadership among the Jewish people thus shifted almost entirely to the sages of the Sanhedrin, reconstituted in the town of Yavneh (Jamnia). This assembly was composed by the earliest "rabbis" as we know them. This group began the formal development and explication of what became known as Judaism's "Oral Law. This was eventually encoded within the Mishnah, the Talmud, and subsequent rabbinical scholarship, producing what is known today as "Rabbinical Judaism." Meanwhile, at the local level, the synagogue replaced the Temple as the primary focus of spiritual energy, reinforcing the Talmudic tradition.
The first time the word "Rabbi" is mentioned in Jewish sources is in the Mishnah, commonly thought to be codified around 200 C.E., by Rabbi Judah Ha Nasi. In the Mishnah, the title was first used for Gamaliel the Elder (mid first century C.E.), Rabban Simeon his son, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, all of whom were patriarchs or presidents of the Sanhedrin. Many of the other Talmudic sages were referred to either as Rabbi (the Palestinian form) or Rab (the Babylonian form). Whether the title was used informally on a wider basis during this time is not known for certain.
In the medieval period, Maimonides held that every congregation was obliged to appoint a preacher and scholar to admonish the community and teach the Torah, and the social institution he described was the germ of the modern congregational rabbinate. In the fifteenth century in Central Europe, the custom grew up of licensing scholars with a diploma entitling them to be called Mori (my teacher). Thus, the office, though probably not the title, of "rabbi" was clearly in place by this time.
Traditionally, a man obtains semicha (rabbinic ordination) after the completion of an arduous learning program in the codes of halakha (Jewish law) and responsa (written opinions by legal scholars). Most Orthodox rabbis hold this ordination, qualifying them primarily as teachers of the authentic Jewish tradition. They are sometimes called a moreh hora'ah ("a teacher of rulings"). A more advanced form of semicha is Yadin yadin ("he shall judge"). This enables the recipient to adjudicate cases of monetary law, among other responsibilities. He is addressed as a dayan ("judge"). Few rabbis earn this ordination. Many Orthodox rabbis hold that a beth din (court of Jewish law) should be made up of dayanim.
Since the advent of Reform Judaism in the nineteenth century, the qualifications, duties, and authority of a rabbi vary according to the type of Judaism which the rabbi practices.
Orthodox rabbinical students work to gain knowledge in Talmud, the early and late medieval commentators and Jewish law. They study sections of the codified Jewish law and its main commentaries that pertain to daily life questions such as the laws of keeping kosher, Sabbath laws, marriage and divorce, and the laws of sexual and family purity. Orthodox rabbis typically study at dedicated religious schools known as yeshivas. Modern Orthodox rabbinical students, such as at New York's Yeshiva University, study some elements of modern theology or philosophy, as well as the classical rabbinic works on such subjects.
The entrance requirements for an Orthodox yeshiva include a strong background within Jewish law, liturgy, Talmudic study, and attendant languages (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic and in some cases Yiddish). Since rabbinical studies typically flow from other yeshiva studies, those who seek a semicha are typically not required to have completed a university education. There are some exceptions to this rule, including Yeshiva University, which requires all rabbinical students to complete an undergraduate degree before entering the program and a Masters or equivalent before ordination.
While some Hasidic yeshivas grant official semicha ("ordination") to students wishing to become rabbis, most of the students within these yeshivas engage in Torah or Talmud studies without the goal of becoming rabbis. The curriculum for obtaining semicha as rabbis for Hasidic scholars is the same as described above. Women do not, and cannot, become "rabbis" in Orthodox Judaism, whether of the Hasidic variety or otherwise.
Within the Hasidic world, the positions of spiritual leadership are dynastically transmitted within established families, usually from fathers to sons. The common use of the title of "Rabbi" is sometimes derided by Hasidim, because this term is reserved only for great sages. Hasidim will therefore prefer using Hebrew names for rabbinic titles based on older traditions. Often the plain Reb form is used, which is a shortened form of rebbe a respectful title that can be applied applied to any married Jewish male.
Conservative Judaism, which grew out of a response to the perceived overly liberal attitude of the movement of Reform Judaism on issues of Jewish law, holds that one may obtain rabbinic ordination after the completion of a rigorous program in the codes of Jewish law and responsa in keeping with Jewish tradition. It specifies the study of: the Hebrew Bible, the Mishna and Talmud, the Midrashic literature, Jewish ethics and lore, the codes of Jewish law, the literature of Conservative Jewish tradition, and modern Jewish works on theology and philosophy.
Conservative Judaism has less stringent study requirements for Talmudic studies compared to Orthodoxy but adds additional requirements for rabbinic ordination: pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism, and academic biblical criticism.
Entrance requirements to a Conservative rabbinical study include a strong background within Jewish law and liturgy, knowledge of Hebrew, familiarity with rabbinic literature, Talmud, and the completion of an undergraduate university degree. Rabbinical students usually earn a secular degree (e.g., Master of Hebrew Letters) upon graduation. Ordination is granted at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Budapest and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Conservative seminaries are now ordaining female rabbis and training female cantors. There are still traditional Conservative congregations, however, that resist this movement.
Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis learn less Talmud and Jewish legal tradition than in Orthodox or Conservative seminaries. However, they often are required to study more in other areas such as sociology, cultural studies, modern Jewish philosophy, and pastoral care.
The Reform and Reconstructionist rabbinical seminaries require students to earn a bachelor's degree before entering the rabbinate as well as have a basic knowledge of Hebrew. Studies are mandated in pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism, and academic biblical criticism. In addition, practical rabbinic experience, such as working at a small congregation as a student rabbi one weekend a month or interning at a larger synagogue as a student rabbi is required.
The seminary of Reform Judaism is the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It has campuses in Cincinnati, New York City, Los Angeles, and in Jerusalem. In the United Kingdom the Reform and Liberal movements maintain Leo Baeck College for the training of rabbis. The rabbinical college for Reconstructionist Judaism is called the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is located in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia.
In contemporary Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, both men and women may be rabbis.
In nineteenth century Germany and the United States, the duties of the rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian Minister. Sermons, pastoral counseling, and representing the community to the outside world all increased in importance. Non-Orthodox rabbis, on a day-to-day business basis, now spend more time on these traditionally non-rabbinic functions than they do teaching or answering questions on Jewish law and philosophy. Within the modern Orthodox community, rabbis still mainly deal with teaching and questions of Jewish law, but they are increasingly dealing with these same pastoral functions. Orthodox Judaism's National Council of Young Israel and Modern Orthodox Judaism's Rabbinical Council of America have set up supplemental pastoral training programs for their rabbis.
Traditionally, rabbis have never been an intermediary between God and man. Nor do they function as priests, that role having become at least temporarily obsolete since the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. With the exception of knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom, they are not considered to be imbued with special powers or abilities. All rituals in Judaism can be performed by any Jew of age, except that certain functions are reserved to males or females.
In an ironic twist, the secular system in most states requires that a Jewish wedding be performed by an ordained rabbi in order to be legally recognized, even though there is no such requirement in Jewish law. In other words, the secular system treats Rabbis as the Jewish equivalent to Catholic Priests or Protestant Ministers, although they are not religious equivalents.
Historically and until the present, recognition of a rabbi relates to a community's perception of the rabbi's competence to interpret Jewish law and act as a teacher on central matters within Judaism. More broadly speaking, it is also an issue of being a worthy successor to a sacred legacy.
As a result, there have often been greater or lesser disputes about the legitimacy and authority of rabbis. As a practical matter, communities and individuals typically tend to follow the authority of the rabbi they have chosen as their leader on issues of Jewish law. They may recognize that other rabbis have the same authority elsewhere, but for decisions and opinions important to them they will work through their own rabbi.
The divisions between the various branches within Judaism manifest strongly on questions of whether rabbis from one movement recognize the legitimacy and/or authority of rabbis in another. Rabbis within Orthodoxy, and to a lesser extent within Conservative Judaism, are reluctant to accept the authority of other rabbis whose halakhic standards are not as strict as their own. In some cases, this leads to an outright rejection of the legitimacy of other rabbis; in others, the more lenient rabbi may be recognized as a spiritual leader of a particular community but may not be accepted as a credible authority on Jewish law.
These debates cause great problems regarding the recognition of Jewish marriages, conversions, and other life decisions that are touched by Jewish law. Orthodox rabbis do not recognize marriages and conversions by non-Orthodox rabbis. While most Conservative rabbis recognize Reform and Reconstructionist marriages and conversions, there are some who do not. Finally, the North American Reform and Reconstructionist movements recognize patrilineality as a valid claim of Judaism, whereas Conservative and Orthodox maintain the position expressed in the Talmud that one can be a Jew only if one is born of a Jewish mother or formally converts to Judaism. The State of Israel, in which Orthodox Jews control an important political party, recognizes only the legitimacy of Orthodox rabbis.
In Jewish tradition, it has been the longstanding practice that only men become rabbis. This practice is continued to this day within the Orthodox community. However, since the 1950s, the non-Orthodox organizationsincluding the Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative movementsgradually began to grant semicha to women on an equal basis with men. Today there are hundreds of women who hold official ordination as rabbis, including many who lead large congregations.
The issue of allowing women to become rabbis is not under active debate within the Orthodox community, although there is widespread agreement that women may often be consulted on matters of Jewish religious law. Several efforts are underway within Modern Orthodox communities to include qualified women in activities traditionally limited to rabbis. There have also been reports that a small number of Orthodox yeshivas may have unofficially granted semicha to women, but the prevailing consensus among Orthodox leaders and a small number of Conservative communities is that it is not appropriate for women to become rabbis.
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Sally Jane Priesand became the first woman in the United States to be ordained as a rabbi in 1972. The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives hide caption
Sally Jane Priesand became the first woman in the United States to be ordained as a rabbi in 1972.
For many American Jews, seeing a female rabbi is a pretty regular part of life. But it's a fairly recent development. Sally Priesand the first American female rabbi was ordained just 50 years ago, on June 3, 1972.
This groundbreaking ordination changed women's roles, and the course of Judaism itself.
Although Priesand had strong support from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where she was enrolled in seminary, a lot of people still didn't want to see her in the role.
"There would always come a time where some person would come up to me and tell me why women shouldn't be rabbis," says Priesand. "And I would say, 'Thank you for sharing your opinion.' And I would walk away."
Priesand even reports a faculty member asking her boyfriend at the time when he would marry her, and "get rid of her."
Priesand sees herself as a relatively private person, but she became hugely public when she was ordained in 1972. She traveled around the country on speaking engagements to prepare the American Jewish community for the event.
"I became a rabbi because I wanted to be a rabbi," Priesand says. "And I discovered that when you're the first of something, there are extra responsibilities that come along with that."
While Priesand was the first American woman to become a rabbi, she was not the first to try. Pamela Nadell directs the Jewish studies program at American University, and wrote Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination 1889-1985.
Nadell says that the early campaigners for ordination made two main arguments. First, they looked to the holy texts.
"There is nothing in Jewish law that prohibits women from becoming a rabbi. So their argument is it's only custom," says Nadell.
Secondly, she says, women would point to strong female figures as well, prophets like Deborah and leaders like Miriam. And they'd also point out the fact that Judaism, like all traditions, has adapted over time.
"They're saying Judaism has made other accommodations to the modern world, why not make this accommodation as well."
Nadell says campaigns for female clergy have gone hand in hand with political and social changes.
"When women get the right to vote in the 1920s, this is a transitional moment for women's rights in American Judaism." she said. "We have the first bat mitzvah in the United States coming on the heels of that decision. And as a result of that, it's not surprising that there's an argument at the reform seminary and Cincinnati Hebrew Union College, there's a discussion can women be ordained?"
Nadell points to another transitional moment in 1930s Germany in the lead-up to World War II when Regina Jonas was ordained as a rabbi in a private ceremony. She died in the Holocaust, and her story was not widely known for many years.
"I became a rabbi because I wanted to be a rabbi," Priesand says. Rabbi Sally Priesand hide caption
But the biggest sea change, leading up to and continuing with Priesand, came in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the rise of second-wave feminism.
"It was impossible in a sense to be questioning everything about women's roles in society and not also be looking at one's religious tradition," explains Judith Plaskow, a Jewish feminist theologian and professor emerita of religious studies at Manhattan College.
Plaskin says this was the time of consciousness-raising groups, of national marches, of women demanding entry to all parts of life. This examination of the ways in which women's lives had been restricted did not ignore religion. The National Organization for Women formed a task force on religious life, issuing a statement opposing discrimination based on sex and the religious teachings and laws that cause or reinforce it. Women crashed rabbinic assemblies demanding equality, met in large conferences, prayed together.
"It was totally amazing. I mean, it felt like everything was breaking open," says Plaskow.
In the space of just a few years, centuries of tradition transformed across religions. And those that didn't, started to seem out of step. Historian Pamela Nadell says these women changed Jewish life.
"They invented a host of ceremonies and rituals to mark the events of women's lives that the male rabbis had never considered essential," Nadell said. " The first baby girl naming ceremonies, ceremonies to mark events like miscarriage."
In 1972, Sally Priesand was not looking to transform Jewish life. She had a hard enough time just getting hired to do the job she loved she was the last in her graduating class to be hired. And while her first job was at New York City's prestigious Stephen Wise Free Synagogue as assistant and then associate rabbi, she was not given the opportunity to become the main rabbi.
She eventually found a home as rabbi at New Jersey's Monmouth Reform Temple, after some temporary assignments. While Priesand served happily the rest of her career, she was always aware of the weight and constraints of being the first, and worked her job in awareness of those who would come after her.
"I did open doors," Priesand acknowledges Priesand, who is now 75. "But I also held the doors open for those who came after me."
When you open a door, you never quite know who'll walk through, and what new worlds they'll bring. People are still walking through. Some, like Priesand, are pushing the fight for equal pay and opportunities. Others are grappling with the sexism of the sacred texts. Others are working on how to expand the role of rabbi further, and what comes beyond access and how to set the path for generations to come.
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