Encore ArchiveOn this page, we present essays, profound or timelyculled from the CLAL literary archive. CLAL faculty members wrote many of the articles that appear here, past and present. Many were written by others and originally appeared in the pages of Sh'ma journal of Jewish responsibility, which was founded by Eugene Borowitz in 1970 and published by CLAL (and edited by Nina Cardin) from 1994-1998. For further information regarding Sh'ma today, click here.We also hope that you will visit Encore Talk and join in a dialogue about the issues these articles raise. We also encourage you to post your reflections on how your own take on the issue under discussion has shifted (or not, as the case may be) over the years. To join the conversation at CLAL Encore Talk, click here.
(from Sh'ma 13/250, March 18, 1983) The Priorities of a Woman RabbiBy Ellen LewisWhen, as a third-year rabbinical student, I began serving a bi-weekly congregation
outside Pittsburgh in the fall of 1977, I was introduced to a young girl who was due to
become bat mitzvah shortly after the High Holidays. As the time grew closer, we began to
rehearse in the sanctuary. One day, as we were standing on the bimah working out the final
details of the ceremony, Beth looked up at me. "Rabbi Lewis," she began
hesitantly, "for my bat mitzvah, do you think we could wear matching dresses?" Being a Mother and Choosing a JobMy own case is a case in point. My fantasy congregation, I always thought, would be
much like the one in which I had grown up: a solo position in a 300 family traditional
Reform congregation in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. How did it happen that I
now serve as the third rabbi in a 2200 family Classical Reform congregation in (of all
places!) Dallas, Texas? A Congregation Concerned For FamiliesA member of the Rabbinic Search Committee volunteered to help us find child care. The
search committee itself worked hard and continues to work at helping me define my job so
that I can fulfill both personal and professional goals. Last year, when I broached the
idea of maternity leave, their response was: "If it's right, we'll do it."
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