Encore Archive
On this page, we present essays–, profound or timely–culled 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)
Leading an Unintended Revolution
By Laura Geller
Rabbis who are women are more or less accepted within the liberal American
Jewish scene. The looks of horror, surprise or amusement that once greeted me are less
frequent these days. Requests for me to speak about women rabbis or women in Judaism,
while still frequent, have begun to give way for requests for me to speak about other
aspects of Jewish life and tradition. Rabbis who are women are no longer considered
freaks; people come to hear what I have to say, not to see what I look like.
All this is not to say that discrimination against women rabbis has evaporated from the
ranks of our colleagues or from our community. Only the Reform and Reconstructionist
movements ordain women. Many Conservative and most Orthodox Jews still have trouble
calling me "Rabbi." I've come to accept that I can never be the rabbi for many
traditional students on campus; it has to be enough that I can be their respected teacher
and Hillel director. Even in the Reform movement, there are some who are threatened by
women rabbis.
Most of the women who became rabbis didn't want a revolution, didn't want to make any
changes; we simply wanted to be the same kind of rabbis that our male classmates wanted to
be. We were certain that as more and more women were ordained, we would not have to work
harder than the men to prove ourselves their equals.
Becoming Aware Of Our Needs As Women
Paradoxically, as women are more accepted as rabbis, our unique needs as women need to be
considered. Six months ago, I had a baby. I took a three?month paid maternity leave. My
employer, the Los Angeles Hillel Council, did not question my right to that leave. But
some of my female colleagues have not received such support. There is no official policy
in the Reform movement about maternity leave for rabbis. Many of the vatikim (veterans) in
the Reform movement have argued against it on the grounds that synagogues and institutions
are already predisposed against hiring women ?- why raise a red flag that will legitimate
their fear? They argue that it is better to work with a community for a while and, after
they know and love the rabbi, she will be in a position to negotiate her own leave. That
argument is clearly unacceptable as well as a little risky. If the Jewish community is
pro?natal, why not place this issue squarely on its agenda?
I needed a three-month leave, but so did my husband. Because we women understand that, we
should speak of parenting leaves instead of maternity leaves. Our experience can be the
revolutionary force to encourage Jewish institutions to grant parenting leaves to all
rabbis. And if the community recognizes that rabbis need maternity leaves, it should also
acknowledge that all new parents need leaves and begin to work to effect these changes.
Balancing Work And Parenthood
As more women who are rabbis have children, they confront the same conflicts between
career and mothering that any professional woman faces. The rabbinate will have to become
more flexible to accommodate those women rabbis who choose to work part-time. Perhaps
women will be the rabbis who can challenge the accepted assumption that if you are not a
workaholic, you are not a good rabbi.
Female Rabbis Affect Our View Of God
The ordination of women will affect not only the rabbinate and the Jewish community, but
also our thinking about Judaism. Psychologists have argued that people project on to God
their image of their clergy. The idolatry of this projection notwithstanding, as long as
the clergy is male there is little problem. But when the clergy is female, it forces
people to stop and think about this unconscious projection. It forces people to realize
that God isn't male or female, that God transcends and encompasses masculinity and
femininity.
Jews are just beginning to understand the import of changing the way we think about God.
First, we need to find a new way to speak about God: new symbols and a more sensitive
language of prayer. Second, we need to understand that the way we think about God
influences the way we think about ourselves, because Judaism teaches that all human beings
are created in the image of God. If God transcends masculinity and femininity, we must
expand the limited ways we think about what it means to be a man or a woman. This also is
revolutionary.
Will the ordination of women affect the rabbinate, the Jewish community and Judaism? The
answer is yes. The question that remains is whether Jews will allow the changes to really
affect them.
We are especially interested in hearing your responses to what they have written. So after
reading, you should click and go to CLAL Talk where you can join the conversation with
CLAL faculty and other readers.
To join the conversation at CLAL Encore Talk, click here.
To access CLAL Encore Archive, click here.
To receive the CLAL Encore column by email on a regular basis, complete the box below:
