How many women rabbis are there

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Search form Search. Not only would its outcome scarcely affect the lives of those engaged in the debate, but as one observer noticed in , there were no women then—or so she assumed—who wanted to be rabbis.

Yet parallel to this hypothetical debate were those who sought rabbinical ordination for themselves, as Sally Priesand later would. Like the nineteenth-century pioneers who tried to crash the barriers against women in American medicine, law, and the ministry, these women enrolled in rabbinical school, expecting to be ordained.

In , the journalist Mary M. Cohen, a member of a traditional Philadelphia synagogue, broached the topic of women rabbis in a story on the front page of The Jewish Exponent. She asked: Could not our women contribute to American Judaism by becoming rabbis? From the s forward, the question eddied out to American Jewry, striking a particularly responsive chord among Reform Jews.

Yet, in these early years, the issue, as Cohen had shown, was by no means confined to Reform Judaism. Journalist Ray Frank — made her name as a "latter-day Rebecca. As they did, they could point to a small number of trailblazers who presented case studies of women functioning—albeit unofficially—as rabbis. Although Jewish history offers a long list of erudite women, some even seen as almost rabbis, the first American proto-rabbi was Ray Frank.

In , learning that there were to be no High Holiday services in Spokane, Washington, Frank, a Sabbath school principal, agreed to preach. Frank was followed by other women who, unexpectedly, found themselves leading and preaching as if they were rabbis. Among them was rebbetzin Paula Ackerman of Meridian, Mississippi. For the next three years, until a man replaced her, she conducted weddings and funerals, led services, and preached.

Thus, Paula Ackerman became the first female spiritual leader of a mainstream Jewish congregation in the United States. Reform Jewish leaders had not come to this position from observing the informal, but nevertheless real, religious leadership of women like Ray Frank and Paula Ackerman. Rather this posture evolved in the s and s after a series of formal challenges to the seminaries of Reform Judaism, Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion.

The two merged in The first was Martha Neumark. In , this seventeen-year-old student at Hebrew Union College launched a two-year-long debate over whether or not the college would ordain women rabbis.

In the course of that debate Reform rabbis affirmed, in principle, that women could not be denied this privilege. Neumark was not the only woman in the interwar years to challenge the exclusion of females from the rabbinate.

In , the Jewish Institute of Religion awarded Helen Levinthal a master of Hebrew literature, not the rabbinical ordination she had sought and should have earned by completing the rabbinical school curriculum. Subsequently, like Ray Frank, Levinthal for a time exercised informal rabbinic leadership, preaching at High Holiday services in Brooklyn in But eventually she, like many of the other pioneers before and after her, settled down to a life as wife, mother, and exemplary Jewish volunteer.

The failure of each of these women to become a rabbi illustrates the roles—student, teacher, Jewish communal volunteer, and most importantly, wife and mother—sanctioned for American Jewish women at mid-century.

Women could do many things in American Judaism then, but they could not yet become rabbis. Within the next quarter century this would change. In in Reform Judaism, in in Reconstructionist Judaism, and in in Conservative Judaism, the first women received rabbinic ordination.

That these women succeeded where those before them had failed reflected the coalescence of several factors. The long history of the question had paved the way in Reform Judaism. The elite seminaries producing rabbis thus became another of the exclusive male institutions and restricted professions then under siege, as women fought for and won access to places historically closed to them. By the s and s, equal rights for women came to sit squarely on the agenda of the majority of American Jews.

Yet successfully resolving the question still depended, as it had in the past, upon the perseverance of individual women who continued to push for ordination for themselves.

This photograph was taken in , when Sally Jane Priesand became the first woman in the United States to be ordained as a rabbi. She faced many challenges on the road to acceptance.

But she continued to struggle to carve a place for herself—and for all women—within the panoramic diversity of Judaism. In , when Sally Priesand crossed the threshold of the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion as a freshman in its undergraduate program, she followed the path of pioneers, like Martha Neumark, who had already raised the question in the very same halls.

But unlike the earlier unsuccessful challengers, the future Rabbi Priesand found an ever-widening circle of supporters, whose imaginations were sparked by the nascent feminist movement. In June , Priesand became the first woman in America ordained a rabbi and the first in the world ordained by a rabbinical seminary. Already it was clear she would not be the last. In , in Germany, Regina Jonas received private ordination. She was murdered in Auschwitz.

In Philadelphia at the same time, a new rabbinical school, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, had also admitted its first students. Want to know more about similar topics?

Create an account on our Dashboard and receive free updates. Reading time: 3 minutes Female Jewish rabbis are rising A trend of women taking action in the Jewish community can be seen all around the world. Anne Clerx Want to know more about similar topics? Read more. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the cookie settings. Cookie settings Accept. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.

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