Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
FIRST BLACK FEMALE RABBI TO BE ORDAINED.
Being a black Jew just got a little less lonely:
Growing up in a black, Pentecostal family in Cleveland, Alysa Stanton never imagined the day when she would be preparing to be ordained as a Jewish rabbi.But that day will come June 6 for the single mother who will be ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, becoming the first African-American female rabbi in the world.
Ironically, I think that the fact that Stanton is a woman will be more trouble for her trying to find a congregation than the fact that she's black. Sadly, female rabbis are still somewhat controversial--there's that apocryphal saying from a rabbi that "a woman will be a rabbi when there's an orange on the seder plate." That prompted a number of Jewish families to actually start putting an orange on their seder plates. Something for President Obama to think about if he does another White House seder next year.
-- A. Serwer
COMMENTS (8)
admittedly I'm only familiar with synagogues here in Massachusetts, but I've noticed a fair number of women rabbis, both leading the congregations and in various other jobs like education or administration.
I've never seen a black rabii at shul, though.
Posted by: Dan | May 22, 2009 11:22 AM
Um, actually, no.
She will not have a hard time because she is a woman. Most rabbinical students at HUC-JIR are women, and the Reform movement has for decades championed gender equality.
Being a woman and being black will provide absolutely no impediments in her employment search in the Reform movement.
The fact that the economic crisis created a situation where the number of graduating rabbinical students greatly exceed the number of open positions available might.
But she already has a position: "On August 1, 2009, she will become the rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, North Carolina – a Conservative congregation of 53 families that recently became dually affiliated with the Reform movement."
http://www.huc.edu/newspubs/pressroom/article.php?pressroomid=403
The Orthodox movement is another story, but for them, it is not just her gender, but her training in the Reform Movement, that would be an impediment.
Your thoughts in the last paragraph are pretty out of touch with the realities of Judaism in the U.S. today in the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements.
Posted by: Jeff | May 22, 2009 11:50 AM
More on the job problem for new rabbis:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/community/article/new_rabbis_face_tough_job_market_20090429/
Posted by: Jeff | May 22, 2009 11:52 AM
An orange on the seder plate.
Posted by: Wrongshore | May 22, 2009 2:09 PM
becoming the first African-American female rabbi in the world.
Umm, there aren't "African-Americans" in "the world". By definition, they are in America. The others are just African, or African-British, or just black.
While using "African-American" instead of "black" is fine most of the time, some writers need to notice the two don't actually mean the exact same thing.
Posted by: Mark | May 22, 2009 4:11 PM
I don't know why black jews are seen as so strange. One of the greatest entertainers in history was one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Davis_Jr.
making this something of a non-issue.
Posted by: Dilan Esper | May 22, 2009 4:16 PM
There are many black Jews. I'm a black Jew in Washington, DC. It's very interesting being at the intersection of two cultures. I think it's great.
Posted by: TJGodel | May 28, 2009 11:13 AM
rolex replica rolex replica
Posted by: replica rolex | December 19, 2009 5:26 AM