ask the rabbis
How Is Judaism Different After Half a Century of Female Clergy? Fifty years ago, Sally Priesand was ordained as a Reform rabbi, the first female clergy member in American Jewish history. To mark this anniversary, we asked rabbis, male and female, to reflect.
NOACH PHILLIPS
HUMANIST In 1969, I asked a rabbinical school to send me an application and quickly discovered that women were not eligible to be rabbis. Who knew? My innocence, ignorance and timing delayed my goal to become a rabbi, but I was not dissuaded. With gratitude to Sally Priesand for being a pioneer, I could be—and was—ordained 20 years ago as a Secular Humanistic rabbi. Ordaining women rabbis opened a manythousands-year-old closed door in Judaism, helping to clear the way for others who had been denied leadership roles. Making Jewish leadership available to women made it more accessible to LGBTQ+ individuals, Jews of color, Jews of patrilineal descent, Jews by choice and, in time, secular and Humanistic Jews and ultimately intermarried Jews. I fall into three of those groups. From the moment women were accepted into the rabbinate, Judaism became more inclusive and welcoming in every way. When Jewish clergy are diverse, those who have been marginalized feel represented by Jewish leadership. Jews who saw no place for themselves in the Jewish community can now look around 20
and recognize that they are home. Rabbi Miriam Jerris Society for Humanistic Judaism Farmington Hills, MI
INDEPENDENT In the past 50 years, women began to count—literally. From the inception of rabbinic Judaism centuries ago, men became obligated to engage in tefillah, prayer. Replacing the sacrificial system, it became the way of coming close to God, but also of communing with fellow Jews. Women could sometimes opt into this system in varying ways, but they never became obligated as men were. More recently, opt-in for women has shifted to a culture of opt-in for all. For most liberal Jews, men or women, religious obligation is not a substantial or actualized piece of one’s relationship with Judaism. As in the rest of our society, we rely less on community and conform less. This presents both a danger and an opportunity for the future of Judaism. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (z’’l) wrote: “When it comes to making a contribution, numbers do not count.” He understood that immense contributions
can be made by few people. Though it took a monumental change for women to count— and then lead—in a minyan, counting in a minyan may no longer be how we measure religious fulfillment. Instead, each of us can connect a personalized Judaism and a personal faith and practice to a greater whole. Rabbi Elyssa Joy Austerklein Ivrim—Jews Without Borders Akron, OH
RENEWAL Can anyone doubt that Judaism is a profoundly different and more just institution now that half of our people are represented in public worship and leadership? We owe so much to our female clergy and male allies, to our pioneers and those who came after, to the rabbis and cantors who fought to secure a place on the bimah, garner respect in the community and lift up their voices to God. When you look at our sacred texts, it is clear that part of their richness comes from the multiple modalities they employ—stories, spiritual encounters, laws and legal analysis, speeches, poetry and more. And yet, in our rabbinic discourse of the last
SPRING ISSUE 2022
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