Sally Priesand - Other Women Rabbis

Other Women Rabbis

All Jewish denominations aside from traditional Orthodox Judaism now ordain women as rabbis and cantors. In the 17th century, Asenath Barzani, the daughter of an eminent Kurdish rabbi held the title of Tanna’it, but was not ordained as a rabbi. The first formally though privately ordained female rabbi worldwide was Regina Jonas, who was ordained in 1935 in Berlin, Germany. Several women, including Paula Ackerman, served Jewish communities in the United States and in Canada in a rabbinical capacity before Priesand, but were never formally ordained. Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first female rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism in 1974, and Amy Eilberg became the first female rabbi in Conservative Judaism in 1985. Lynn Gottlieb became the first female rabbi in Jewish Renewal in 1981, and Tamara Kolton became the first female rabbi in Humanistic Judaism in 1999. In 2009 Alysa Stanton became the world's first African-American female rabbi. In Europe, Leo Baeck College had ordained 30 female rabbis by 2006 (out of 158 ordinations in total since 1956), starting with Jackie Tabick in 1975.