Woman About to Become the Country's First Black Female Rabbi

[umsami]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/21...ef=mpstoryview

When Alysa Stanton officially becomes a rabbi next month, she'll be walking into history. Alysa Stanton, 45, will become the first African-American woman to be ordained as a rabbi next month.

She'll become the first African-American woman ever to be ordained as a rabbi and the first African-American rabbi to lead a majority white congregation, according to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion....

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Cool! Yeah for Rabbi Alysa... or is it Rebbitzin or Rabbinat?

[Pelican]

Thanks for sharing, that is very cool! Yeah!

[Faliciagayle]

Very exciting!

And Rabbi. Rebbitzin typically refers to the Rabbi's wife... though our Rabbi's husband calls himself "Rebbitzman."

[ScottishMama]

Forgive my ignorance but I thought only a man could be a Rabbi. How long have women been ordained?

[Faliciagayle]

The first woman Rabbi was ordained in Germany in 1935.


This is a good article regarding women in the Rabbinate.

[umsami]

Originally Posted by Faliciagayle

And Rabbi. Rebbitzin typically refers to the Rabbi's wife... though our Rabbi's husband calls himself "Rebbitzman."

That's hillarious.

I read a book (good book, highly recommended) years ago...maybe the late 90s, early 2000, called "The Committed Life" by a woman named Rebbitzin Esther Jungreis. So, I vaguely remembered the title, but didn't remember if she was a female rabbi, married to a rabbi, or perhaps both.

[npl]

She is married to a Rabbi (and daughter of a Rabbi, and mother of Rabbis, but the important part is that she is a Rebbetzin because she is the Rabbi's wife!)
She isn't a female Rabbi - she doesn't have any ordination. But, she is an incredibly well-learned lady, with a vast Jewish knowledge and understanding.