Tag Archive: pluralism
A Long Way To Go
By Ilona Lee AM, October 2013 Thirty years ago when I became president of my WIZO group. there were no female rabbis and no females presidents of mainstream Jewish organisations in Sydney. There have been marked changes since in both the general and the Jewish community. A woman was elected for the first time as…
I dream…
By Barbara Ford, October 2013 Born in Sydney Australia I have always been a member of a Liberal/Progressive congregation. There have been many changes since I did my Bat Mitzvah with a group of 10-12 girls all dressed in white. Rabbis were male only wearing ceremonial gowns. I have been privileged to be on a…
Exceptions and Expectations
By Ruth Wilson, October 2013 I grew up knowing that my life was an exception to the rules. My friends prayed on Sunday, in churches that were landmarks in my small country town. My family prayed, on Saturday, at home. We had different rules for eating. In my friends’ homes, they shared ghost stories and…
Judaism is not one-size-fits-all
By Dawn Rosen, October 2013 I believe that Judaism was never meant to be one-size-fits-all. And I believe Judaism was meant to evolve. As a Reconstructionist, I understand that being Jewish means much more than religion and rituals; its culture, music, history, our stories, our family, and how we work to enrich our communities and…
I Want To Sit Downstairs
“Granny, why can’t I sit downstairs?” I always asked my Grandmother as we sat upstairs in the women’s section in the shul in Muizenberg, the seaside suburb of Cape Town. Her answer was always unsatisfactory, as was the answer that my Grandpa gave me when I asked him why I couldn’t have a Bar Mitzvah…
Gender Equality is a Jewish Value
By Dr. Martin Rosenberg, October 2013 Even as a child attending an Orthodox shul, I was bothered by my mother and sister having to go upstairs to separate seating. And I wondered why my coming of age in the Jewish community was a big deal, but my older sister’s was not. As one who grew…
It’s a New World
By Marcia Cohn Spiegel, October 2013 I grew up in the 1930s when I was one of the rare girls allowed to study Hebrew, knowing that I would never read from the Torah or be on the bima of my shul. As a grown woman in the 1970s and beyond, I became a member of…
Kaddish
By Emma, October 2013 I grew up as a Reform Jew in London. Until I went to university, I would go to synagogue every week because my father insisted that my sister and I should. My father himself rarely attended synagogue except at festivals. To get to synagogue we had to travel by bus quite…
A Debt of Gratitude for the Women Who Opened the Doors
By Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, October 2013 When I was ordained in 1985, women rabbis were still rather rare. I was the first woman rabbi in every congregation I served in the 1980s, and in most cases I was the first and only woman rabbi in that city. I looked to the women who preceded…
Two Halves, One Whole
By Shelly F. Cohen, October 2013 The first time I stood on the bima was when I became bat mitzvah in a Conservative shul. At that time, 40-some years ago, it seemed likely that would be the last time I’d be on the bima as well – there were no women clergy (that I knew…
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